Run this town
by me.fergie
Summary: What starts as a few shootings in different areas of Miami will soon become a real war... Who will "Run this town" in the end, the gangs or the CSIs? RyanxOC Friendship. COMPLETE
1. Feel it coming in the air

I'm back with a new story.I know I told some of you it'll take a while, but I just couldn't wait anymore. I'm addicted.... I hope you enjoy this story. I maybe have to raise the rating later on, because there's going to be some really gruesome stuff... but for now, I think that's okay....

**This story has been inspired by the wonderful song "Run this town" by Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West, and the athmosphere in the videoclip for that song. I don't own lyrics, video or music. Furthermore, I don't own CSI MIami and it's characters, but I do own Nicole Ferguson, my OC. The title of this chapter is also taken from "Run this town". I don't intend any copyright infringement on songs or TV shows, so please don't sue me.... Oh, and I don't own Back to the future nor Michael J. Fox or anything else you recognize. **

**Enjoy.**

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**1. Feel it coming in th****e air….**

It was an early sunny morning when Ryan Wolfe arrived in Coral Gables, Miami. The crime scene he was walking to was a nice mansion. He looked around, but his Hummer was the only CSI car at the scene. He sighed; so he was going solo today. Part of him regretted it; he had noticed along the way that it was always good to exchange thoughts with a fellow CSI. But on the other hand, he was glad that he was alone. After his encounter with the Russians weeks ago and his 'betrayal' to Calleigh and Delko, he felt more at ease being on his own, when nobody was casting nasty hidden looks at him and scrutinizing his work. He nodded at the patrol securing the area,

"Hey, Marty. How's things?"

Marty Baker, a cop Ryan knew from his times with patrol, grinned, "You mean, generally, or in there?" He pointed at the house.

Ryan shook hands with him, "I meant generally. I'm going to see the mess in there early enough."

Marty smiled, "Well, mess is the right word for it. Had two of my guys puking their guts out. But I'm fine, thanks for asking. How about you, Mr CSI? It's been a while since I last saw you."

"I'm cool. How's Carol?" Carol was Marty's wife.

"She's fine too. A bit worried; we're about to have our second child. A girl this time. We think of calling her Samantha."

"That's cool. Congratulations." Ryan sighed, "I'd love to chat a bit more, but if I don't hurry up, Tripp is going to bite my head off."

"Don't worry about that. Tripp is in little Havana with CSI Boa Vista and Delko. Nic is in there."

"Great. I see you later." Ryan had to grin. He liked Frank Tripp, but since that incident a few years ago, when Ryan had been fired, things between Tripp and him had become a little reserved. But with Nicole, he had developed some sort of a friendship during the last months. Their last case had only contributed to that. As he walked into the mansion, he was really glad he was going to work on a case with her, and none of the others. _A shame what has become of our team… _The entrance hall of the mansion welcomed him with a real mess. Five DBs, all male except for one, all dead by gunshots, and blood and brain matter all over the place. "Good I haven't had breakfast yet…"

Nicole, who stood in the middle of the whole mess, raised her head, "Yeah, tell me about it… I saw two of our patrol guys vomiting all over the place…. Good morning, by the way."

"Morning." He looked at Nicole, then grinned, "You know, this is the first time I see you all dressed in white. You look like an angel ready to guide those guys to heaven…"

Nicole gave him an annoyed look, "That cop out there asked me if I had planned to get married today. I'll never do that again. Next time, I'll be back in pink."

"Looks great with your hair…" He then smiled, "And you're standing right in the middle of my crime scene?"

Nicole raised her hands in defence, "I know, I know, don't mess up the crime scene. I promise I haven't touched anything, and you can have my shoes later on, but when I heard the address, I had to check."

"Anything special about it? Besides the fact that no one of us could afford that place?"

Nicole pointed at the victim closest to her feet, "Let me introduce; this is Alfredo Marcinelli. Signore Marcinelli, Ryan Wolfe. He is, I mean, was, one of Miami's biggest drug lords." She walked over to the next body, "His bodyguard, Marcello De Luca. De Luca's son, Carlo. Over there we have Fredo's brother Claudio and their known associate Andrea Nucci. _La_ _famiglia_, all dead." Then she pointed at the staircases, where the only female victim was lying. "Teresa Marcinelli, the wife. We found the children in the bathroom upstairs, unharmed. Apparently, they weren't supposed to be at home, so nobody checked on them. Luckily, or else they might be dead, too."

"Why were they at home?" Ryan asked.

"Down with the chicken pox. And may I add that this will be my destiny, too? Because the daughter thought it was a good idea to throw herself at me and bury her head in my lap when she recognized me as a cop. And I didn't have the chicken pox yet."

"Only child?"

"Bingo. And since my parents didn't approve of those pox parties, I never had them. You had the chicken pox yet?"

"Yep, got them from my sister." He then looked at her more intensively. "What happened to your face? Your cheek looks kinda swollen."

"Dentist pulled tooth yesterday. Apparently I had an infection somewhere in there, and she decided that it would be a good idea to get the tooth out before it starts hurting."

"Sorry to hear that. Does it hurt?"

She shrugged, "A bit, but nothing I couldn't handle. She gave me enough shots to kill an elephant."

"At least you got a shot… I was fully awake when the Russian pulled. I thank God everyday I didn't get any infections."

"Well, if you need some antibiotics, I have enough for the two of us… How's things with your shrink?"

Two weeks ago Ryan had decided to see a shrink about his problems. He had told Nicole, and she had assured him it was the right thing to do. "Well, it's okay. I still feel kinda weird, talking to a complete stranger about my feelings… but well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do… Has Tara been here already?"

"Nope. She's in Little Havana. I talked to Nat on the phone earlier. Seems it'll take Tara a while. Nat has… I think about 6 bodies on her own. Delko is helping her. And Cal and H. are in Little Haiti. A gunshop has been robbed, owner killed. It has been a busy day."

Ryan sighed, "And it's only 9 AM. So… I guess while we wait for Tara, we could walk this through…"

"Okay. Somebody got in here and shot all those people. We walked it through. Now, where's Tara?"

Ryan laughed, "Why the hurry?"

"I have plans for tonight. The ladies and I are going out. And I would be pretty pissed off if we had to cancel that because of this here…"

"Is there anything more important than this?"

Nicole laughed, "Yeah, okay, I know, normally nothing is more important to me than solving crimes, but tonight it's different. Dance marathon. We're gonna hit every club in town, me, Nat and Maxie."

"I should have known. Actually, have you and Valera moved in together now?"

"Yes, we have. And I tell you, it's brilliant. Yesterday, Maxi and I got home after work, ordered one hell of a pizza, drank two bottles of red wine and watched all three _Back to the Future_ movies. And now, she's trying to learn how to skateboard, I'm looking for a DeLorean, and we both have decided we want a man like Marty McFly."

Ryan had to grin, "You and Valera would so tower over him. Wouldn't that bother you, having a boyfriend so much smaller than you?"

Nicole shook her head, "You can't measure greatness in feet and inches. Look, Michael J. Fox isn't the tallest man on earth, but have you seen him lately? I rarely have seen so much passion, dedication and strength in one man. One of my uncles suffers from Parkinson's; I know how hard that is. There's so much more to greatness than just 6 feet."

"True, but still, you dancing with a smaller man would just look weird. Especially in those ridiculously high heels of yours." Ryan grinned. "How's Marian, by the way?" Marian Allan, a young guy they had met on their last case, had since become close friends with Nicole. He had lost three of his friends, including his boyfriend, and very narrowly had escaped death himself.

"He's fine. Still grieving over Steven, but that doesn't stop him from living life to the fullest. You know he's thinking about studying now? Chemistry. I shouldn't have let him go out with Travers. But I thought it would be cool if Travers could loosen up a bit."

"And instead he convinced an innocent youth to spend the rest of his life in a lab working with us. Great job…"

Nicole wanted to reply something, but suddenly the door opened and Tara Price entered the room, "Sorry I'm late. The crime scene in Little Havana took longer than I expected." She then looked around, "And this will take too. Any IDs yet?"

Nicole nodded, "Yes, I know them all. Don't worry about that."

Tara smiled a warm smile to Nicole and kneeled down next to the first victim. After a few minutes she said, "I guess he died this morning… between 5 and 8 AM. I can't say anything before I haven't had him on my table, but I guess he died from the gunshot wound." She checked the victim's back. "No exit wound. The bullet is still in the body." She sighed, "It will take some time, though, before I can get them. I have 7 other bodies already…"

Ryan said, "Those guys were in drug business. Don't you think you could give them priority? Before the associates of these guys go out and kill some of the others?"

Tara shook her head, "I'd love to, but the shooting in Little Havana was a gang shooting. And Horatio thinks this should have priority before the guys from that gang go out and shoot someone of the rival gang. You know how these things work. We can't risk a gang war…"

Now it was Nicole's turn to sigh, "Sounds like a lot of work for you. You need some help? I know the nightshift's ME, he owes me a favour. I can get him to help you."

"No, I'd rather not have anybody missing with my bodies…." She gave Ryan a look that said everything.

Ryan blushed a bit. Apparently all the flowers of the world could not make Tara forget his and Eric's prank. "You know, everybody here was been welcomed with a prank. On my first autopsy, Alexx was boiling a head. That's what happens when you enter a new job. Right, Nicole?"

Nicole grinned, "Indeed. My first crime scene as lead detective was on Halloween. I had four patrol cops and a CSI spooking me. Pissed my pants, really."

"Pity the poor CSI who did that…" Ryan said, "Did you get back to him?"

"Not yet, I'm still waiting for the right moment." Nicole blinked, and then she said, "So, Tara, you'll be fine here?"

"Yeah, sure. Just go ahead and do your CSI work…"

"Great." Ryan proceeded to take out his camera and take pictures of the crime scene. "Has anything been stolen?"

Nicole frowned, "Don't think so. They're all wearing their jewellery. The safe has not been touched."

"Mhm… sound like a hate crime then…. Maybe we really have a revenge thing on our hands."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. I mean… they had more than one gun, I'm sure. So there has been more than one attacker…"

"And if it were just a druggie, he would have come alone…" Nicole added.

"And he would have taken any money or jewellery he could get…" Ryan finished.

Nicole closed her eyes, "I just hope we're mistaken…"

Ryan shook his head and said gloomily, "I hope too… but let's face it, we're not. I feel it coming in the air… there's more to come."

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**Likey? Not likey? **


	2. And the screams from everywhere…

Okay, time for some action.. Thanks for all your reviews, I truly appreciate them. They make me wanna write faster and update quicker (hint, hint- just kidding)

**Disclaimer: See Chapter One. The title from this chapter is once again taken from _Run this town_** (**Jay-Z feat. Rihanna and Kanye West). I love this song**.

And before I forget: _Los Habaneros_ are as far as I know not an existing gang. I made that up. Any similarity with anything that exists as _Los Habaneros_ is pure coincidence. I just love Bizet's opera Carmen and its song _Habanera_, so this is what got me inspired there....

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**2. ****And the screams from everywhere…**

Later that day, Horatio gathered his team in the conference room. Tara was there too, although she had too much work to really take some time off. Ryan sat on a chair, Natalia to his left. Delko leaned casually against the table, Calleigh sat on it. Tara stood at the door, ready to leave right after the meeting.

Now Horatio sighed deeply and said, "I know, you're all up to your ears in work, but after having walked around and collected some of your results, I thought it was important to let you all know what your team mates know… Calleigh, please start."

Calleigh got up and started, "Well, you all know that Horatio and I got called on a robbery homicide this morning. The owner of a gun shop was killed. Tara has earlier confirmed that the man has been killed yesterday evening. The bad news is, his shop was completely emptied. I haven't been through all the papers yet, but it seems like over a hundred guns have been stolen, not to mention also a few knives, and apparently a samurai sword. Wife has confirmed he had one of those, and that it has been stolen. The man himself has been killed by a 9 mm. And if this wasn't bad enough, I had time to look at a few bullets Tara has been able to retrieve from the bodies in Little Havana. And one of the bullets is a perfect match to the bullet that killed the gun shop owner. Now, I don't have to tell you what this means…"

Horatio shook his head, "Not at all, Calleigh… Ms Boa Vista, what do you and Eric have?"

Natalia got up and laid a few pictures on the table. They all showed DBs. "I have 6 male bodies, and one survivor. He's in hospital, but he will survive. All were members of _Los Habaneros. _As Calleigh already pointed out, at least one of them has been shot with the same gun that was used yesterday evening. I don't know how far you've come with the rest of them, Tara, but I think it's safe to assume that these cases have a common link. _Los Habaneros_ are big in the drug business, but they have a code of honour to not sell drugs to anyone under age. They were put to the test several times, and they never failed. They are also known as quite peaceful people, they never wore guns and stuff, but of course, this might be about to change now…. As for evidence, Eric found some fingerprints, but we don't have a match yet, we're still waiting for AFIS. DNA was not found. Neither was a gun." She sat back on the chair, "Any questions so far?"

As everybody shook their heads, Horatio said, "Very good work, you two. Mr. Wolfe, what do you have?"

Ryan decided to remain on his chair as he started, "Well, we haven't got a lot so far. Five DBs and a collateral damage. All known druglords, too. Tara hasn't been able to start on them, so I can't say anything about bullets and stuff. But we have some witnesses; Nicole is just paying a visit to the hospital, trying to find out if they saw anything. The bad news is that those who killed them have also stolen their guns. It doesn't look like robbery so far, and we have ruled out the possibility that some druggie did this. At first glance it seems only the guns have been stolen, but Nicole is on that, too. I also found some fingerprints and shoeprints, but I haven't had the time to look at them yet… Tara, how long will it take you to get the bullets out of my bodies?"

Tara scratched her head, "Tomorrow late morning is the best I can give you. I'm still up to my ears in the bodies from Little Havana. Sorry…" she added.

Ryan nodded, "That's okay. Just let me know once you have them…"

Horatio sighed, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I don't think I have to tell you how serious that is. Especially the link between the scene in Little Havana and the gun shop killing. It seems like somebody broke in there, stole the guns and then went to kill members of _Los Habaneros_. Frank is trying to find out which other gangs hold a grudge against them, but you know how this works, every gang holds a grudge against every other gang. Mister Wolfe, I might need Ms Ferguson on this too. She used to live in Little Havana; she might know some people that can give her an insight on this…"

"She's busy with witness interviewing…" Ryan said.

Horatio nodded, "I know, but right now, and I hate to say this, this is our top priority. We can't risk a gang war."

"Horatio, my guys have been drug lords too…"

"I know, Ryan, but still, as long as you don't have anything…" Horatio sighed, "I know, I don't like to set priorities either, but it needs to be done. I don't say you should forget your case completely, but I'm gonna need Nicole."

"I heard my name…." Nicole stood in the open door, Frank Tripp next to her. "Frankie, I think they're discussing us…"

"They're discussing you…" While Frank Tripp always appeared rather grumpy, he had a spot soft for the dedicated CSI team, and for Nicole, who had sort of been his little protégée when she had started years ago. "Anyways, sorry to break up that little party, but I have news. I dug a bit into it, and I can say that most of the other resident gangs in Miami had some sort of unfinished business with _Los Habaneros_."

"How come?" Delko asked. Being half Cuban, he was of course especially interested in all the happenings in Little Havana. The Cuban minority in Miami worked from morning to evening to have a decent life, and every gang in that part of Miami was a danger to their youth.

Frank took a look at his notepad, "I spoke to some of the cops that know the most about gangs, and they said that _Los Habaneros_ maintained close relationships to certain police officers. Apparently, their code of honour not to sell drugs to underage children got them as far as to tell the police what they knew about other gangs who did, to tip them off on where to go to find dealers from other gangs… You get the point. I wasn't able to find any of the officers in question yet. But apparently, all the other gangs have already lost some of their most prolific drug dealers just because police got a tip on where to look for them…"

Ryan had listened to Frank's monologue. Now he noticed something weird. During the whole speech, Nicole had suddenly started becoming very interested in the floor, and had even faintly blushed. Now she opened her mouth. Ryan gave her a look and shook his head. Nicole shut her mouth again and nodded.

Now, Horatio said, "Okay, this means we have a lot of suspects on our hands…. Frank, I want you to dig deeper into it. Nicole, you help him. I want to know everything about every gang in question. Get me every file you can lay hands on. ASAP."

But Nicole shook her head, "Horatio, I'm busy with the Coral Gables shooting… The oldest daughter, you know, the one with the chicken pox, has seen one of the guys before they entered the house, and she has seen the car. As soon as hospital lets her go, I bring her in and have her look at mug shots…"

"Mr Wolfe can do that. I need you on this case."

Nicole grimaced, "Okay…"

Natalia smiled, "You can go with me; I'm off to the hospital interviewing our survivor. And then I'll call it a day. We can stop my place, get my stuff and then head over to you and Valera, and prepare for our night out. _Cosmo _says that it's much more fun going out if girls prepare it together. We could have champagne…"

"Yeah, I know, and watch _The Marrying Kind_." Nicole laughed. "Okay, let's do this. Frank and Eric can check into all the files." She turned to Ryan, "Still, I'd like to be there when you talk to the girl. Hospital says they'll let her out tomorrow. She has an aunt who'll take her in, I already told her to bring her here first."

"Alright I call you." Ryan smiled. "You have fun tonight."

Natalia thought for a second, "Hey, don't you want to come with us?"

"I thought it was ladies' night?" Ryan asked.

Natalia turned to Nicole, "Actually, I think it would be kinda cool with the guys, don't you think? Marian and Travers could come too, so we all have a partner and won't be chatted up by some… you know…" She made a grimace. "I mean, why not?"

"True, why not?" Nicole nodded. "Ryan?"

Ryan thought about it for a second. Part of him wanted to go home and just relax, but he had already been out with the girls a few weeks ago, and it had been huge fun. "Sure, I'd love to."

"Great. I call Marian and Travers." Nicole said. "Come on, Nat let's interview your suspect."

"Right." Natalia got up, and both girls left the room.

Horatio turned to Ryan, "Mr Wolfe, as long as there is no results on your case, I'd like you to help Calleigh. With anything she might need you for."

"Okay…" Ryan had no idea what Calleigh could possibly need him for, but since Tara was far away from looking at his DBs, he could as well help her.

---

At 11:30, Ryan, Natalia, Nicole, Michael Travers, Maxine and Marian finally entered a club in South Beach. It was already crowded, but that didn't stop Marian and the girls from hitting the dance floor immediately. Ryan and Travers settled for a beer at the counter. Travers watched his girlfriend dancing with Marian, "I still don't know if I should see him as competition or not…"

Ryan laughed, "Don't worry, dude. She's prolly the one that has to see him as competition…"

"Yeah but I would never… you know… leave her. Not even for a girl."

Ryan grinned, "I'm sure she's happy to know."

Travers only nodded and took a sip of his beer, "We should have invited Dave over. He could use some dancing. Sitting in front of computers all day long…"

"You sit in front of microscopes everyday."

"Yeah, but she drags me out on nights." Travers pointed at the dance floor and grinned. "Can you imagine I was a total dork before I met her?"

"No way!" Ryan grinned, too. Both of them knew Travers still was.

"Yeah, I thought so… You know…" But Ryan never found out what he should know, because right in that moment, Nicole came to the counter and pulled Travers away to the dance floor. "Yeah well, I see you later then…" He smiled apologetically and started dancing with Nicole. And he was a surprisingly good dancer, Ryan thought. Who would have thought two British people dancing with each other could look so hot?

"Yeah, they look good, don't they?" Ryan only noticed Natalia when she leaned on the counter next to him. "I had a bet with Nicole, the first time we went dancing, that Travers couldn't dance. Lost 50 bucks to her."

"Serves you right," Ryan grinned, "you girls always believe us geeks and dorks can't dance. We can. I can too. And I bet I can dance better than Delko."

"Well, between you and me, it's not the only thing you can do better than Delko…" She blinked and took a sip of her Manhattan. "Listen, Ryan, if you need Nicole on your case, I can do without her. Didn't want to say anything in front of Horatio, but really…"

"Thanks, Natalia. You can have her, and I borrow her if I need to…" He gave her his loveliest smile. "If I may come back to what you said earlier…. about me and Delko…."

Natalia shook her head and laughed, "Sorry, Ryan, a lady doesn't kiss and tell…"

"Yeah okay, true… but let me at least offer you that drink, cause you just made my day…."

"Can't say no to such an offer…."

And then, suddenly, everything happened fast. Outside the club, shots echoed, screams were heard. The people in the club heard it, despite the loud music, and started screaming and panicking.

Ryan grabbed Natalia's arm and pulled her behind the counter; he then pulled out his cell phone and called 911, "This is CSI Wolfe speaking. Shots have been fired in front of the Dirty Dancing Club in South Beach. I don't know how many there are, and I don't know if anyone has been hit, but you need to come immediately." The operator answered they'd be there in less than 5 minutes. Ryan put the cell away and said, "Natalia, you stay here…."

"Ryan, I…."

"Stay here…."

In that moment, Nicole, Travers, Marian and Valera raced behind the counter too. Nicole was out of breath, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, we're fine, you too?"

"Yes, all good…"

Ryan let out a breath, "Good…. I called 911; police will be here any minute. Have you seen anything?"

All four of them shook their heads. Nicole said, "The people are panicking. We need to do something before they start stamping on each other."

Ryan could imagine what she meant. People in the club were screaming, he could hear them trying to get out, but still shots were fired outside. "What do you want to do? Evacuate through the back door?"

"I don't think they will listen to any of you…" Marian said. "All of them are trying to get out of the back door anyways."

"Besides," Valera added, "if you get up here now and ID yourselves as cops, and those guys out there hear it, they're gonna come in and blow your heads off."

"And kill more civilians than they prolly have already…." Natalia finished off.

"But we have…"

At that moment, the screams in the club got louder. Nicole rummaged through her handbag and brought out her mirror. She held it so as they could see in the mirror what happened in the club. Ryan had seen that trick of Nicole before. Now he moved closer to her so that he too could see what was happening. In the front door stood a man, dressed all in black, wearing a ski mask. In one hand he held a large gun. He pointed it at the people in the club that already thrown themselves down to earth. Muffled cries were heard. The man walked away from the front door and…

"Damn, he comes towards us…" Nicole whispered.

Ryan reacted. He motioned the girls to lay flat on the floor too. Then he covered Natalia with his body, and motioned to Travers and Marian to do the same with Nicole and Valera. If they couldn't do anything for the rest of the people in here, they could at least hide the girls they had taken out tonight, and if the guy discovered them, maybe save their lives by dying. Ryan could feel Natalia trembling, and he could see Valera closing her eyes, as she was waiting for the inevitable to happen. Only Nicole's eyes were open; she held her cell phone in her hands. Ryan noticed it was on camera modus, and pointing upwards, so if the guy leaned over the counter, he would be taped. He had to admire her coolness, but then again, she was a trained cop, like he was. Now, her eyes met his. She blinked and smiled. Ryan couldn't help but frown, why was she smiling? But then he saw the shadow of the guy leaning over the counter.

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**I think that's what you call a cliffhanger, right? Now, how will that turn out? Stay tuned for Chapter three.**


	3. I’m addicted to the thrill…

Yeah, I know. Bad authoress. Sorry for the long wait and the short and IMHO opinion really bad chapter. Love you all, though, so please love me....

**Disclaimer: I only own Marian, Nicole and the bad guy. Nothing else. Title of this chapter is again taken from Run this town by Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West. Don't own the song either. And I don't own Green Hornet, it's Al Hirt's. **

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**Chapter 3: I'm addicted to the thrill…**

But the guy didn't notice them. Ryan felt Natalia freeze under him, Valera and Marian both had their eyes tight shut. The guy sat on the counter now, his hand grabbed every bottle in reach. Then he got down from the counter again and was out of view. Not a sound was heard but his footsteps going away from the counter. Ryan got off Natalia and reached out for Nicole's mirror to look into the room again. It took him a while to find the guy, but what he saw made him frown. The guy emptied the bottles on the curtains that covered the windows. He went through the whole room, dousing every single curtain. The rest of the bottles he emptied on the floor. Now Ryan heard the people screaming again. In the meantime, Travers had cautiously as to not make any noise gotten off Nicole. She now moved over to Ryan to glance into the mirror too. Both saw that the guy was now standing in the front door, a cigarette between his lips, lighter in his hands. Now he lit the cigarette and threw it to earth. Immediately, the floor was on fire. The fire made its way to the curtains. Flames suddenly started to illuminate the whole club. People were screaming.

It took Ryan only a second to get up and to jump over the counter. He ran towards the backdoor, trying not to trip and as a result being killed by the stampede that now reigned in the club. His mind realized Nicole screaming 'Miami Dade Police, stop right there!'. He also heard Natalia rummaging behind the counter, trying to find a fire extinguisher, while Valera and Marian were already trying to put out the fire. And he saw Travers coming after him, probably trying to help him open the back door. When both arrived at the backdoor, they noticed it was locked from the outside.

Ryan could hear the slight panic in Travers' voice when he screamed, "What are we gonna do now?"

Ryan turned around and saw that Natalia finally had found a fire extinguisher and was now trying to put out the fires closest to the front door. "Front door…" He took a deep breath and screamed as loud as he could, "Okay, people, I need you to calm down! Police are on their way…. I need you to go to the front door and get out there. Please, be…." The crowd started screaming and running to the front door. "…calm…" Ryan finished his sentence and watched the people shoving each other out of the way to get through the front door. He only hoped that they wouldn't hurt Natalia on their way out. So he ran over, trying hard not to hurt or shove anybody, and helped Marian, who was trying to put out a small fire right next to the counter with his shirt.

Panic was over the young man's face, "Ryan, I can't put it out…. If it proceeds to the counter it's gonna set the whole booze on fire…."

"Marian, I need you to calm down, you're doing fine…." He felt a tension in his voice, knowing Marian was fully right. He turned to the door; Natalia was missing. So was the fire extinguisher. No trace of Valera and Travers either. He just hoped they were alright while he started unbuttoning his shirt and then helping Marian to put the fire out. He didn't know whether that was the right thing to do, but it was the only thing to do, without a bucket of water or a fire extinguisher. Where was Natalia? And where were Travers and Valera? Then finally, he heard the police sirens, and, he couldn't believe his ears, fire rescue. He placed a hand on Marian's shoulder, "Come on, fire rescue is here, let's get out." Marian nodded, and both ran outside.

There was a huge crowd outside, and now he also saw Travers and Valera. Apparently, both had at some point managed to get out before the rest, and both were now checking on all the people that sat outside, coughing. Fire rescue made its way into the building. Natalia was out of sight, so was Nicole. Ryan and Marian sat down a bit further away from the crowd. Ryan nudged Marian, "You're alright, mate?"

Marian chuckled, "People used to tell me I seem like I like to play with fire. Seems that's true..." Ryan knew Marian referred to the case they had met him on, when he almost died in a fire. "But, yeah, I'm alright. How about you?"

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay…"

"Your shirt is a goner though…"

Ryan grinned, "It was dirty anyways." Then he pulled his cell phone out. His first call was Natalia. She was sitting in an ambulance; apparently, somebody had knocked her over, and she had a sprained wrist now. But she sounded okay. Then Ryan called Nicole. No answer. "I'm gonna kill her… running after some guy with no gun, not even an umbrella…" He redialled, but still no answer. "She could be lying on a dirty street now, killed by a bullet, cars driving over her dead body…"

Marian shook his head, "Don't think like that. She had her car…"

"You're sure?"

"Yes. Look over there; it's where she parked it. It's gone."

Ryan looked over at the vacant parking spot where Nicole's Mercedes had disappeared. He bit his lower lip, "I just wish that sometimes she would wait for back up. Or at least tell somebody what she's up to. Like me, for instance."

Marian looked at him, "Or her boyfriend?"

"Yeah, or him. Hell, anybody. Anything would be better than just get into her car, put the _Green Hornet_ in her CD player and go all James Bond." Ryan redialled, but still no answer. "I'm gonna kill her!"

"Cool down. She's… well, I don't know for sure how old she is… She pretends she's 25, but come on, she can't be serious about it… But she's grown up and she can defend herself." Marian sighed and sat down, "So, how long until your nightshift gets here?"

Ryan sat down next to Marian, "No idea. Shouldn't be too long. Too bad it's nightshift though. I'd rather have Calleigh and Delko here. Especially Calleigh, when I look around…" It was the first time since they had gotten out of the club that he actually realized the damage. There were a number of bodies lying around the front door. The people the man had shot before even entering the club. Ryan counted about ten at first glance. He just hoped that Fire Rescue and the police hadn't messed up the scene too much. Now he saw the first CSI Hummer coming around the corner. He got up, "You'll be alright without me?"

"Sure, where are you going?"

"I'll just check if nightshift's doing good work…" He got up, but he hadn't even reached the hummer when his phone rang. "Wolfe?"

"Ryan, it's me, is Travers alright?"

"Nicole???? Where are you?"

"Flagler, car chase. Can you hear _Green Hornet_?"

Ryan ran his hand through his hair, "I kill you when I see you next time…"

"Yeah, sure, line up. Is Travers alright?"

"Yes, he's fine."

"Good. Tell him he's the best and I call him if survive this…."

"Nicole, stay where you are, I come and join you…."

"Nah, don't worry. I called 911; police have blocked the street somewhere at the end of Flagler. I'm just chasing him down that road and we'll be fine. See you at work tomorrow." She hung up.

Ryan stopped in mid-walking and looked at his cell phone. "You're crazy, you know that?" He sighed and put the cell phone back in his pocket. He thought for a second about going to check on nightshift like he had planned, but then he turned away and walked to his car. When he opened the door he noticed his fingers were trembling. Adrenaline started rushing through his veins. Now, he knew why Nicole had been smiling when they had hidden behind the counter. There was nothing like that. That feeling of a showdown, that thrill when facing an enemy eye to eye. It was what Nicole had felt when the guy had been coming towards the counter. She was feeling it right now, chasing the guy. And Ryan, when he started the car, knew that in a few seconds, he would be feeling it to. And it would feel good.

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**As I said, I think it's not a great chapter. I hope you disagree, though. Please review. **


	4. It’s a dangerous love affair

**And there we go again. I think this chapter is better than the previous one, still not why I expected, though.... I hope you like it anyways, cause you are the important people, I'm just the humble author :o)**

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI MIAMI or any of its original characters. Furthermore, I don't own Run this town by Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West. From this song I borrowed the title of this fic, the title of this chapter, and the part Nicole quotes at the end of this chapter.

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**4.**** It's a dangerous love affair **

It took Ryan only 5 minutes to get to the road blocks. Luckily, after having spent years and years with his uncle Ron, Miami's most successful safe cracker, Ryan knew Miami almost better than his own hometown. Ron had shown him all the little short cuts in the city, and Ryan had not only memorized them but also every single change made to them over the years. When he arrived, he didn't even take the time to park the car properly. He just rapidly put his shirt on without even buttoning it and ran over to his colleagues. He noticed Marty Baker was the cop in charge. "Marty, where are they?"

Marty frowned when he saw Ryan, "You look like hell, Wolfe. What happened?"

"I was in the club in which the guy started shooting people. Later on he set the club on fire, and I used my shirt to put it out…"

Marty grinned, "You were in the same club this guy was? I heard the same about 15 minutes ago when Ferguson called. You were out with Ferguson?"

"And her boyfriend, and some other workmates. Where are they?" Ryan was starting to get impatient. He liked Marty, but this was not at all the moment for gossip.

Marty pointed at the long street ahead of them, "If everything goes as planned, Ferguson and the guy should be here any second… Somebody should tell her to not call people while listening to music. I could barely hear her… What are you doing here anyways? Think your old mates from patrol cannot handle that alone?"

"Yeah, right. I was at the scene, and a close friend of mine is following a nutcase who shot about 10 people, without a gun or anything but her car. I may not be able to do anything, because I don't have a gun myself, but I need to be here."

Marty shook his head, "I don't think that's a good idea… I know you're a good cop, but without a gun…"

"I know, I know, I'm gonna take all the blame on me, and if I end up dead, that's bad, but…" He didn't know what to add. He didn't even want to add something. Sure, he normally wasn't one of those that would risk their lives like this, but right now, adrenaline was rushing through his whole body. This guy had shot people; this guy had come close to kill not only him, but some of his friends. And now, in a few seconds, he would be facing the guy. And no way he would just hide.

But the sound of screeching tyres and loud music saved him from giving Marty a valid reason why he needed to be there. He saw the bright lights of the first car, and right after it, he could hear the _Green Hornet_ at maximum volume. Now the first car, a white van, noticed the road blocks. Immediately, the driver slammed the breaks and came to a halt so fast that Nicole's Mercedes behind him almost hit it. There was absolute silence for half a second, but Ryan knew it was just the momentary silence before the big storm.

It started when Marty screamed, "Miami Dade Police! Put you hands out of the window and get out of the car!" The car windows went down, but instead of just putting his hands out of the window, the man put the gun out and started firing at the police officers. Ryan, Marty and the others hid behind the cars, some of them fired back though. Ryan saw one of their own going down right next to him, blood flowing from his chest. He heard one cop making a dispatch that they needed some serious back up. Marty was screaming orders at his people while handing the gun that their dead friend would never need again to Ryan, "Come on, Wolfe, show me that you still know how to shoot…"

"You bet I do…" Ryan checked the gun; it hadn't been fired yet. He took cover behind the car door next to him and started firing. A voice in the back of his head told him that he could hurt Nicole, who was still in her car, but he fought it back. After all, he would never hit the guy if he was worried he could hit his partner. He fired, one time, two times, three times… He managed to destroy the windshield, but the guy had taken cover right before it so that the bullet didn't hit him. Now, he was getting back up and pointed his gun right at Ryan's face. Ryan didn't shake a bit but tried to fire back. But it never happened, because right at that moment, Nicole drove her Mercedes against the van. The guy turned away from Ryan and fired at the Mercedes. Ryan couldn't see if Nicole was hit, so just tried to shoot the man, who now turned back to the cops and fired at them again. Marty and his guys still fired back, although some of them tried to find the right moment to run over to the Mercedes to see if Nicole was hit. But no one managed to get that far; all had to duck for cover again. Ryan put the gun away and tried himself now to get to the car, but when a bullet missed him only by inches, he stopped. He felt nervous; he hated such moments. One of his closest friends, the only one who had cared about him when he had been in the hands of the sadistic Russian mobster, was maybe dying this second, and he had no chance to get to her and hold her hand in her last minutes. But then suddenly, out of nowhere, there was his chance, because suddenly, their enemy was out of ammo. Ryan heard the guy curse and saw him reaching into the glove compartment. And he reacted. He screamed to the patrols to stop shooting and then ran over to the van. Exactly that same moment Nicole got out of her car, apparently unharmed, dashed over to the passenger's door and opened it. Without any hesitation she jumped on the guy and tried to wrestle the gun out of his hand. Ryan had in the meantime opened the driver's door, and just waited for the right moment to get into the fight himself. It came when Nicole finally had the gun in her hands. She rammed it into the guy's face. He moaned in pain and tried to get out of the car. But Ryan had his hands on him before he could even make a step. Ryan nailed him face down on the ground and roughly pulled his arms behind his back and shouted, "I need some handcuffs over here, guys!" Patrols came to his side and took over. Ryan watched them putting the guy into the nearest police car. Then he looked over to Nicole who was still sitting in the van, "Nice stunt you pulled there, driving your precious car against the van."

Nicole just grinned, "I had to do something to safe your cute, little ass back there."

"Safe my ass? He almost shot you. You should be worrying about your own ass rather than mine." Ryan grinned back.

"Oh come on, that was all the fun of it- and besides, my car was the only weapon I had. You think the department will pay for a new one?"

"Considering the way you trashed it and the fact that it's not one of our Hummers, I seriously doubt it… Come on, let me help you out of the van…." He held out his hand.

She grabbed it, "Thanks, Sire. Is there any particular reason for you being half naked?"

Ryan looked down at himself. "Oh, yeah... I helped Marian to put the fire out at the club, and then I had to help a lunatic friend of mine who followed a shooter with nothing but a car and a theme song… I didn't even have the time to re-button my shirt…."

"You tried to put out the fire with your shirt?" she smiled. "That's so sweet. Huge fire, and you and Marian strip. And I have nothing better to do than to chase a criminal."

"It was the only thing I could do…"

Nicole laughed, "Yeah, sure. But, for the record: It looks damn fine; you should do that more often."

Ryan blushed, suddenly remembering that while his front might be okay, his back wasn't, "Thanks… but I leave that to Eric. Don't you think I should bring you to a hospital? I mean, you had a car accident…"

"Oh come on, this was not an accident. The airbags didn't even open up. I wanna go back to the club, see if Marian is still naked…"

Ryan rolled his eyes, "You know… Travers thinks Marian might be competition... you know, for him?"

Nicole looked at him for a few seconds and then started laughing, "He really thinks that? You know, if anything, I should be worried, I mean, Marian is into men, and Travers is a man…"

"Don't tell me, I know. Okay, so you wanna go back to the club? I drive you." He turned to Marty, "Marty, you'll be alright here?"

"Sure, Wolfe. See you around."

"Yeah, see you…" Ryan opened the passenger's door to Nicole and sat down on the driver's side. He deeply sighed, "That was kinda close…" Then he frowned, "You're trembling."

She nodded, "Of course I am. Adrenaline is wearing off…"

He grinned, "Thought you became a cop just for thrills like this, you know, that you're addicted to the thrill… Doesn't sound like it right now…"

"Oh, I am. You know, my mate Rihanna says 'I'm addicted to the thrill, it's a dangerous love affair'. That's the truth. Why call it a thrill if not because of the danger? And come on: if you didn't like it, you wouldn't have joined me."

Ryan started the car and then nodded, "Yes, somehow you're right…"

"I always am. And now, start that car, I wanna see my boyfriend."

"Aye aye."

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**As I said, I think it's better than the previous chapter...**

**Anyone else thinks the new lab guy is just hilarious?  
**


	5. Can't be scared when it goes down

**Sorry it took me longer to update this time. I don't know how many of you follow the German news. Last Tuesday, the Goalie of the German national footballsquad killed himself because he was suffering from depression. While I never had the luck to meet him personnally, I've seen interviews with him, and he seemed like one of those footballers that don't pussyfoot around things, that openly admitted when his team and he sucked at a game... You know, that rare species of honnest footballer who doesn't blame the referee for losing a game. I want to dedicate this chapter to him. Robert, wir werden dich vermissen.  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own CSI Miami and its caracters, nor do I own the song "Run this town" from which I have taken the title for this chapter. I don't own Back to the future and anything in this chapter you might recognize from the movie.  
**

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**5. Can't be scared when it goes down**

The next morning, when Ryan got to the lab, he was greeted by a very unhappy Nicole. He grinned when he saw her face, "Geez, Nicole, you look like hell. What happened?"

"I got here pretty early this morning, you know, to check on nightshift… Since Travers is not allowed to work trace from the club, I thought it would be a good idea to keep a close eye on the labtechs. Well, guess I have to give them credit, because at least the one I sneaked up on does pretty good work. Huge bloke. So I decided to not annoy the guy any further, but instead have a nice cup of coffee in the break room. Delko even offered me a bit of his Cuban coffee…."

"Yeah I thought so, because you're gabbing right now... must be the caffeine…"

She looked at him like she would strangle him any second, "Anyways… When I left the break room again to do this crappy research thing I have to do for Horatio and the _Habaneros_ shooting, I ran into everybody's favourite Internal Affairs Blockhead. I tried to hide, but he saw me, and asked me about what the hell was I thinking… And I was like, how does he know…."

"Will you please get to the point of that story?" Ryan felt his head already aching. So far it had never meant something good when Rick Stetler from IAB was out hunting cops and criminalists. Ryan still had a vivid memory of his last encounter with Stetler. Never ever would he forget that humiliation in the elevator when, for the first time since his father had beaten the shit out of him, he had been close to tears.

"Okay. You and I have an appointment with Stetler in an hour. So barely enough time to get my hands on Tara's Xanax stash…"

"I don't really think she has got enough for the two of you… But maybe a cup of really strong tea will help?" Ryan motioned her over to the break room.

"Sure, if you put some Xanax in it…"

----

"Ms Ferguson… long time no see…." Rick Stetler sat down opposite Ryan and Nicole, a folder in his hand. "How long was it….? Two entire weeks? I'm surprised…" Nicole just gave him a grin, but didn't say anything. Stetler turned to Ryan, "You know, Ryan, I thought that after getting reinstated, you would keep a low profile. Instead, what do you do? You get into fights with Russians that result in them cutting their own throats. You almost break a civilian's leg when slamming a car door shut. You provoke Miami's best defence attorney that same day. And now, this." He opened the folder he was carrying and took out a picture. "Miguel Badillo. If you care to know, that's the man you arrested yesterday. While you were off duty. You know, when you…" he pointed at Nicole, "damaged his car, and you…" now he pointed at Ryan, "shot at him with a gun that wasn't your own. And instead of staying at the crime scene, you two decided it would be a better idea to go back to some club…"

"In which the whole disaster had started…" Nicole said, "The nightshift was there, they needed us as witnesses."

"As did that part of the nightshift that went to the scene of the shooting. You'll have some serious questions to answer on later today…"

"For what, for doing our job?" Ryan asked. "We stopped a dangerous man who already shot about 10 people at that club, and you complain that we didn't exactly follow protocol?"

Rick glanced at them both, his eyes glowing dangerously, "You could have at least provided us with a blood sample to determine if you had drunk alcohol. Now it's too late of course, but did you two ever think of what that will look like to the press? Cops gone ballistic! I can see tomorrow's headline! I don't have to tell you that both your reputations are shaky enough as it is. Sometimes I think, when I sit opposite one of you, that I sound like a principal who is scolding students for… hell I don't even know what for. And don't giggle, Ms Ferguson."

"Sorry, Mr Stetler, but come on, this is ridiculous! Ryan and I did what had to be done. We lost two of our men yesterday. You can thank God that there weren't more losses…"

"I always thought you were way too arrogant, Nicole. You should thank me that you and Mr Travers still work here. I could have thrown you both out for fraternizing…"

"No you couldn't. I have Miami's best defence attorney on my side…" She got up, "Anything else?"

"I haven't even got started…" Nicole sat down again, visibly annoyed. Ryan knew exactly how she felt, only he wasn't stupid enough to provoke Stetler. Stetler now showed them the picture he had been holding. "Any idea how this happened? Ferguson?" The picture had been taken after Badillo had arrived at the police station. His whole face was covered in blood, his nose visibly broken, his lip split, and one of his teeth chipped. "Any idea where that came from?"

Nicole looked at him. "I wrestled the gun he killed two police officers with out of his hand and smashed it into his face."

"Nice… How about this?" He showed them another picture. This time, it showed the naked torso. He was spotting haematomas on his back, and one of his shoulders was bandaged. "Dislocated shoulder and a couple of nice bruises on his back. Ryan, what can you tell me?"

Ryan sighed, "If you ask like this, I'm sure this guy told you already everything. But well, after Nicole hit him, he wanted to run away, so I brought him down."

"Bringing him down is okay. What you did was more than that, both of you." Stetler put the pictures away. "He reported you both for police brutality. You know how this works. Until you're cleared, you're both suspended. I'm gonna need your guns and badges."

There was silence for a few seconds, but then Nicole banged her fist on the table, "This is utter rubbish, Rick, and you know it! Ryan and I did a good job yesterday, and still you're suspending us because that thug says we abused him? What we did was perfectly okay for that situation! I cannot believe you sell us out. Ask Marty about it, Marty Baker, he'll tell you what we did was okay!"

"Sit down again! I asked Baker already when he brought the victim in, and he said he couldn't see much from where he was standing… And now give me your gun and your badge and get out of this building or I have to ask security to bring you out. Again."

Nicole wanted to say something, but Ryan got up and laid a hand on her shoulder, "Come on, Nicole, just do it. There isn't anything we can do about it…" He unholstered his gun and unclipped his badge and placed them both carefully on the table. Then he looked at Nicole who, after sharing his look, did the same, only much noisier. Stetler waved them both out.

Outside, Nicole looked at Ryan, "What the heck happened to you? Normally it would have been you to jump into Stets' face…"

Ryan shrugged, "Normally, yeah. But I noticed along the way that he isn't really worth all my energy." He sighed, "So, what do we do with our free time? Any plans?"

She grinned, "I'm prolly going to watch every single episode of _Two and a half men_, cook something for Valera so that when she gets home, dinner is already on the table… but first of all, I'm going to call Derek Powell and tell him to get ready, I might need him again."

Ryan frowned, "He isn't really your lawyer, is he?"

"Of course he is. Come on, he's the best you can get. You want him too?"

"First of all I doubt he would defend me after I nearly broke his client's leg, and second, I can barely afford my flat, I cannot ever afford an implant for my tooth, how am I going to afford him?"

Nicole laughed, "I think he would, I mean, you all got the one who killed his fiancée."

"And how am I going to pay him? How are you paying him, anyways?"

She grinned, "I'm one of his best clients, I guess, so I don't have to pay a lot… I mean, he gets money from me almost every month…."

"I see. Exactly, how often have you been reported for police brutality? Sounds like Stetler is so close to book a chair just for you."

"I lost counting a few years ago. But you know, it's always men reporting me. I think they do have a problem with the fact that I can kick their asses, being just a petite girl and a tender elf…."

Now it was Ryan who had to laugh; Nicole was anything but a petite and tender elf. "Yeah, I get your point… So, you'll just cater to Valera the whole day?"

"Yeah, I guess so… Why, you have any plans? Involving the two of us?" She blinked at him, "You have to ask my boyfriend first though…."

"Very funny…" Ryan grinned. "Nah, I think I just go and visit my uncle…."

Nicole nodded, "Yeah, family is always…. Wait, isn't that Marty Baker over there?" She pointed at the front door where a couple of patrols were standing.

Ryan sighed, "Yeah, it's him… Will you please…" But Nicole had already stormed off. "… go easy on him? Thank you."

Nicole walked to the front door and pushed one patrol out of her way to get to Baker. "Hey Marty. Heard you told Stetler you didn't see a thing yesterday?"

Marty turned around, "Nicole…"

"Don't you Nicole me! I know you saw enough to back up what we've said… that it was all appropriate…"

"Nicole, listen…"

"No, I won't! You listen! Ryan and I are suspended because you were too much of a coward to tell the truth! What are you, Marty, chicken? Ha!"

Marty's face turned a dark shade of scarlet, "You have no idea, Ferguson! I have a family. I cannot risk getting suspended…."

"Oh, shut up and be a man! I doubt your wife would be glad if she knew she's married to a chicken…."

In the meantime Ryan had joined the two and decided it would be best to just calm Nicole down, "Nicole, come on, you're upset now, let's just go…"

Nicole turned to him, "Yeah, you go."

"No, we go."

"No we don't! I just got started. Come on, you feel the same. He sold us to Stets."

Ryan ran his finger through his hair. "Nicole, please, do you really want to cause a scene here? Why don't you go and harass the huge guy from nightshift?"

"Because there are cameras everywhere. Come on, don't tell you don't think Baker here is a backstabber."

Now Marty had enough, "I'm tired of this shit, Ferguson. I'm going out and do my job now. You can scream at somebody else…" He waved his friends good bye and left the building.

But Nicole followed him. When she stood outside of the building, she yelled, "Yeah, do walk away, chicken! You were there yesterday, you could have stopped us if you really thought we exaggerated, but you didn't!!! If this is anyone's fault, it's yours! And believe me, I'm gonna bring this up in front of IAB if I need to save my ass!"

Marty only made a vulgar gesture at her, but Ryan, who had followed Nicole, just shook his head, "Will you stop now? That's enough, really."

Nicole turned to him, "Yes, I do know, cops are supposed to help each other, but what he did was low, and I don't accept this. And yes, I do know that especially you have a soft spot for patrols. But come on, you've had your experience with backstabbers too… And what are you looking at?" she snapped at a bunch of people standing on the parking lot. "Don't you have work to go to?"

Ryan sighed, "Can't you just go home instead of shouting at everybody around?"

"Yeah, I will. At least Valera will still love me. Especially after tasting my Chicken fajitas. Actually I hope they keep me suspended for the rest of my life so that I can try out every single dish in my books. Bye." She walked down the stairs, grimaced at the crowd and headed to her car. Ryan only sighed again.

---

The call came in early the next morning. Ryan was still lying in bed, cuddling into his pillow when he picked up, "Wolfe?"

"Mr Wolfe, you need to come back. We have a situation."

Ryan rubbed his tired eyes, "Horatio, I'm suspended."

"I talk to Rick. We need all hands on deck. One of our own has been murdered."

"Who?"

"Marty Baker."

* * *

**Oh dear, that sounds like trouble....**


	6. Got a problem, tell me now

Thanks for all of the reviews I got for the last chapter. They really mean a lot to me. I know I told some of you I would update on monday (yesterday) but I caught a little cold, so I didn't manage. Anyways, here's my new chapter....

**Disclaimer: See all of the chapters before. I don't own a lot.**

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**6. Got a problem, tell me now**

Ryan wouldn't have recognized Marty Baker's body if Horatio hadn't told him on the phone it was him. When he arrived at the scene, the patrols were leaning against their cars, some of them crying, some of them just staring into nothing. He approached the body lying on the street. Natalia, her wrist bandaged from the incident in the club, Tara and Delko were already at the scene. Ryan had to swallow when he saw the body. His face was a bloody mess, and Ryan could at first glance see that the fingers of the left hand were broken. The right arm was missing.

Delko pointed at it, "Calleigh is looking for it, but we doubt she'll find it."

Ryan nodded, "I can see that. Anything else?"

"We found skin under his fingernails. The usual stuff. And some saliva."

"So it wasn't enough to kill and dismember him, they also had to spit at him…" Ryan shook his head. "At least that'll give us some DNA for sure…"

"Yeah, I guess so. Hey don't you wanna go for a little walk with me. Maybe we can find his arm over there."

Ryan frowned "I thought Calleigh was looking for it?"

"Yeah, but we can help her, can't we?" He pulled Ryan away from the body and all the patrols. When they were out of earshot, he asked, "Is it true that Nicole and Marty had a fight yesterday? I heard the patrols talking about it."

Ryan sighed, "Yeah. She was… a little bit upset that Marty didn't tell Stetler that… whoa, wait a second! You're not really saying that this was her?"

"Oh, of course not, Wolfe." Delko gave him an annoyed look. "But you know as well as I do how this will look to the press. And IAB. And since she already bumped heads with Rick yesterday…."

"Yeah, I know. But don't worry. DNA will confirm she wasn't there, and as soon as Tara can point out a TOD, we'll ask Nicole and she'll give us an alibi. I guess this happened at night, and I'm sure she was either with Valera or Travers at that time. She'll be cleared before out shift is over."

"Let's hope… I mean, she has a history…"

"Oh, Delko, come on. There's a difference between ramming a gun into the face of a man that shot innocent people, and I may add in clear self-defence, and doing this." He pointed at the dead body. "Do you think we can keep the case?"

Delko nodded, "I think so. I mean, H will prolly have to pull a few strings, but I think we can. Except for Travers, maybe. But don't worry about that."

"Okay. Well, I guess then I just call her and tell her to come over."

---

Two hours later, Nicole sat in the interrogation room. Delko and Ryan sat opposite her. She looked at them, "Okay, I know what this looks like. But I didn't do it."

"We know, Nicole. But you know we have to do this." Eric answered. "Tara points his TOD approximately around 12 AM. Where were you there?"

"At home, with Maxine. We watched _Two and a half men_, and discussed how hot Charlie Sheen is. And then we spent the rest of the evening watching random _Youtube_ videos. I left a comment on a video at… 12:07 I think. We went to bed at around 1:30, and then I called Travers. Check my phone records, you won't need a warrant."

"Thanks for your cooperation. We have your DNA and stuff in our Database, so don't worry about that…" Ryan said.

"Yeah, cause that's my biggest worry right now…" She sighed. "Have you got anything?"

"Not yet, no. Valera and Natalia are working on the DNA from the crime scene…"

He hadn't even finished that sentence when Valera opened the door, "I got someone!" She handed Delko over the folder. "And while I am at it, how dare you think she did it! I was with her the whole evening yesterday, until we went to bed, and she never left!"

Delko flipped though the folder, "And what did you ladies do the whole evening? Something us guys would love to see?"

"Yeah, that's what you think. We watched Charlie Sheen. And later on we watched even more hot guys."

Delko grinned at Nicole, "So, at least your alibi is good. Now let's see…" He checked the picture. "Carlos Graciano… in the database for aggravated assault…"

"Wait a second…" Ryan took a closer look at the picture, then handed it over to Nicole. "You know that guy?"

Nicole checked it, then said, "He was here at HQ yesterday. Stood in front of the building when I screamed at Marty…" She sighed, "It's my fault it happened, right?"

Ryan ran his fingers through his hair, "Don't worry, Nicole. I'm sure there was something else about it…"

"And in case somebody is still paying attention to me…" Valera added, "I already went through the database and searched for Graciano's known accomplices. He is a _Habanero._ And so is Badillo. And while you two were suspended yesterday, and while Delko was nowhere to be found, me and Natalia found out that the club we went to two days ago is often frequented by members of _la famiglia_…." Delko, Ryan and Nicole looked at her. "What? I can do more than just DNA."

Delko nodded, "I can see that. Great job, Valera."

"Thanks." She left.

Delko sat down. "Okay. Before we talk to this guy, we should go through everything we have on the shootings two days ago. We have dead members from the _Habaneros_ and _La famiglia_. And in the evening, a _Habanero_ goes to a club where we have people from _la famiglia_ and sets it on fire after shooting some people. We catch the guy."

"We caught the guy…" Nicole said.

Delko gave her an annoyed look, "Yeah, you caught the guy. And the whole city knows it, thanks to you causing a scene in front of HQ. Now, after you told the whole city Marty Baker was there, some Habanero killed him. What does that tell us?"

"You think the _Habaneros_ are at the beginning of this?" Nicole frowned. "I doubt it. We all know their code of honour."

"Do you have a better idea?" Delko asked.

Nicole grinned, "So, you officially asked me to join the game?"

"I did. If Wolfe can play, you can too. You're officially cleared. Right, Wolfe?"

Ryan smiled, "Welcome back on the team, Nicole."

"Great. No idea what Stets will say, but well…" She took a breath. "Guys, we said from the beginning on that those cases belong together. The shootings, I mean. Think about it…"

Ryan nodded, "Yeah. I mean, somebody shoots the _Habaneros_, and later somebody shoots _La famiglia_…"

"Don't forget about the gunshop robbery. Calleigh matched to bullets to the Little Havana shooting…" Delko added.

"We need a timeline…." Ryan got up. "Anybody got an edding?" Nicole had one. "Cleaning ladies are gonna hate me…" He started drawing a straight line on one of the windows. "Okay. So, I guess we can safely assume that it all started at the gun shop. So I write gun shop at the top. Next is the shooting in Little Havana. We know the guns used there were stolen at the gun shop. Next is Coral Gables, our dead Mafiosi… Next is the club. Apparently frequented by members of _La famiglia_. The man who shot there is a _Habanero_. Next thing, Marty Baker. Apparently murdered by a _Habanero_ too. What does that give us?"

"A headache…" Nicole answered. "This doesn't sound like the _Habaneros_. They're normally quite peaceful."

"Yeah, but if somebody shoots at your people, you tend to forget how peaceful you are…" Delko said. "But I admit it looks just weird. But it's the only thing we've got…"

Ryan sat down again and looked at his timeline. "I think the main question is: what was the first shooting?"

"Not really though…" Delko scratched his head, "I mean, the _Habaneros_ were shot with the guns from the gun shop, so I think it is safe to say that they were not at the origin of this."

"And we all know _la famiglia_ are way more… extreme than the _Habaneros_…." Nicole said. "So… Let's try walk it through…."

"We already did…" Ryan grinned. "What we need is to find out who knocked the gun shop. Has Cal got anything on it?"

"Why are you looking at me? Ask her…" Delko said defensively.

"Okay, I'll ask her…"

Nicole nibbled her lower lip, "Do we know what was used to cut Baker into pieces?"

"How do you know…?"

She laughed, "Come on guys. I have my spies everywhere, you know that."

Ryan closed his eyes, "I hate that… but no, we don't know so far. Why do you ask?"

"Because of the sword that was stolen from the gun shop…" Delko and Ryan silenced. "If Marty was dismembered with the sword from the gun shop and if the _Habaneros_ were shot with guns from the gun shop… Well, you get my point. It means that either the guy we have in custody, Graciano, is not a _Habanero_, cause, how would he have gotten the sword from a rival gang, or he might have robbed the gun shop all by himself and then shot his mates…"

"Headache…" Delko muttered.

But Ryan had understood Nicole's point, "No no, she's right. It's easy. We just need to find out what was used to cut Marty's arm. If it was the sword from the gun shop, we either have someone on our hand who is not a _Habanero_, or we have a traitor…"

"Guys, how are we gonna prove it without the sword?" Delko asked. "And, with all due respect, this sounds so outrageous, no judge is ever gonna believe it…"

Nicole and Ryan looked at each other, and then Ryan slowly said, "He's right. Nobody will believe us."

"But we're right…" Nicole got up and started scribbling with the edding on the window. "The only thing we need is to sound convincing. First, we need to confirm if all our guys in here are in fact _Habaneros_. Badillo and Graciano. Before we even talk to them. I go and talk to some people. Next, we need to verify what we've got from the crime scenes. Has anyone talked to Tara lately? Ryan?"

"Nope, I was to busy with being suspended…" He blushed.

"Okay. You go see Tara right after we're done here. I go and talk to Travers. Since he cannot work the club case, he should be done with any trace that came from the shootings."

"What do I do, boss?" Delko grinned.

"Why don't you go and do all the paperwork that Horatio has given me? And go and check on your girlfriend and her bullets!"

"She's not my…." But Nicole had already left. Delko frowned and looked at Ryan, "When did she take over the lab?"

"Took over the club, took over the world, so today she's gon' take over the lab…(1)" Ryan grinned and got up. "So, go and check on your girlfriend and her bullets."

"She's not…"

But Ryan was already on his way to the morgue.

* * *

(1) A little variation on the lyrics of the PCD song _Taking over the world_

**Mh, sounds like a really complicated case. Maybe also because my English doesn't seem to be good enough for complicated cases. I hope nevertheless you understand Nicole's point too. **


	7. The only thing that’s on my mind…

**Wow, fast update. Lucky you. But this is like my thank you for all of your encouraging reviews. I hope you do enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: See chapters before  
**

* * *

**7. The only thing that's on my mind….**

Tara was working on Marty Baker when Ryan entered. She raised her head. "Please don't tell me you have another body for me."

Ryan shook his head. "Nope. Don't worry. What can you tell me about the bodies from Coral Gables?"

"Well, they have been shot. The bullets are over at Calleigh's. No DNA, no trace. Guy just got in and shot. No leaving no evidence of no kind." She shrugged. "Unless you have found something…"

"Nothing." Ryan sighed. "Thanks Tara."

"Anytime…"

---

Ryan's next stop was Trace Lab. Travers' looked up from a microscope when he entered, his eyes cold as steel. "I heard you questioned my girlfriend?"

"Don't worry, she's cleared."

Now Travers smiled again, "Good. What do you want?"

"Have you got anything from any of the crime scenes of the last days? Please. Anything."

Travers sighed, "Well, not from your. Since you didn't bring anything in. But I have something from the gun shop."

"What?"

He walked over to the other microscope. "Calleigh brought it in. It's a piece of tissue. Now, I might not look like it, but I own a few very classy suits." He motioned Ryan to look through the microscope. "You're looking at Italy's finest…"

Ryan frowned, "Italian. You're sure?"

"Yes."

"And since you are such a great lab tech, you sure have found out already who sells them?"

"Of course." Travers grinned. "Not a single store in Miami. Because they are custom made."

"Really? Now, that's a little something. Now we just have to find somebody to match the suit to." Ryan patted Travers on the shoulder. "Good job. Anything else?"

"Natalia found a fibre at the Little Havana scene. It matches the same suit."

"That's good news, but we already knew that the guy who robbed the gun shop was the one shooting in Little Havana…"

"Then don't ask. Have you got nothing from Coral Gables?"

Ryan shook his head, "Nope. Nothing."

Travers sighed, "That's bad."

"No, really?" Ryan sarcastically said. "Thanks anyway."

"You're welcome."

---

Ryan headed over to Ballistics lab. Calleigh was busy with bullets. "Hey Cal. Are these the bullets from Baker?"

"No, Tara hasn't brought them over yet. These are the bullets from Coral Gables. I ran them through NIBIN. Got nothing so far…" The computer beeped. "Okay, I got something." She hit a few keys on the computer. "Oh. That's not good…"

"What?"

"I got a match. The guns have been used before." She paused. "In the Little Havana shooting."

"WHAT????" Ryan took a look at the computer himself. "But… That's not possible."

"You mean I'm making mistakes?"

"What? No…"

"Because if I may remind you, I'm not the one who made mistakes on one of our last cases… you know, slowing down investigations…." Her eyes were cold.

Ryan gave her a look, "I know I made a mistake, but you know, you could stop hating me for it. Or maybe, just maybe, take a few minutes and ask yourself why I could possibly have done it… But well, thanks; at least I got a break on my case thanks to you." He left the Ballistics lab, slamming the door shut. Outside, he took a deep breath. They would never forgive him. He remembered when, three years ago, Delko had done some mistakes, all for his sister. He had come clear, they had understood him. Ryan had thought many times about coming clear, too. Telling his teammates why he had done it. His shrink had told him to do it. But so far, he had refused it. And Calleigh's comment had made clear that he was right. They would never understand it. He took another deep breath and then dialled Nicole's number. "Nicole, it's Ryan. Interrogation room. Now."

---

She already sat there when he entered, "Wow. That was fast."

She grinned, "Boy, believe me, if I didn't have a boyfriend, I would sit here naked… There's nothing hotter than a gorgeous cop going all serious on you… So, Officer Wolfe, why did you want to see me in the interrogation room? Because I was naughty?"

"Errr…."

She laughed, "Sorry, lovey. I just got my gun and badge back from Stets, and his face was priceless. But yeah, why did you want to see me?"

"And here I was thinking you'd think I was hot." He grinned. "But we have a serious situation…"

"For the record, you are hot. Yeah, what's the situation?"

"Calleigh matched the bullets from the shooting in Little Havana to our case in Coral Gables."

"WHAT??" Nicole was all ears now.

"Yes."

"Okay… So, what does that give us…?"

"The guy who shot the _Habaneros _also shot the members of _La famiglia_."

"And Calleigh said at the reunion two days ago that one of the bullets in _Little Havana_ matches the one that killed the gun shop owner."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that…" Ryan rested his head on the table. "I'm feeling like I'm starting to have a headache. "So, there's a link between all three shootings…"

"Five."

"Five?"

"I checked with… a random acquaintance who knows people that know people that are _Habaneros_…. And both Badillo and Graciano are _Habaneros_."

"Okay." Ryan turned away from Nicole and checked out the window with his timeline. "So, practically…. Well, here's what I think…"

"You need sunglasses to end that sentence?" Nicole giggled.

"Are you sure you didn't OD on the antibiotics for your tooth? Anyways. I think we have a third gang in there. Frank said lots of gangs have unfinished business with the _Habaneros_… So they send one of their men to shoot them, then they go over to Coral Gables and shoot _La famiglia_…."

"But that does not explain why Badillo went to a club where members of _La famiglia_ gather to shoot them. If their members wind up dead too, it tells the _Habaneros_ that it wasn't them who shot their guys."

"True… Well, I'm going back to Coral Gables anyway. Travers found fibres of a high quality Italian suit at the gun shop and in Little Havana. If we find fibres of that suit in Coral Gables, we know it was one shooter."

"Italian suit? Well, in that case, we don't really have to go back. Remember, I was at the hospital interviewing that chicken pox ridden child. She told me she saw the guy. He wore a grey striped suit."

Ryan sighed, "So, we have indeed one shooter. Though, honestly… how can one shooter kill so many armed people without being injured?"

"I don't know…. But she told me she saw one guy…. Do we know how many guns were involved?"

"No, I forgot to ask… Can you go over and ask Calleigh? Or call her?"

Nicole frowned, "Why don't you go?"

Ryan sighed, "She pointed out that she wouldn't make mistakes like I did. You know, hiding bullet casings and stuff…."

Nicole looked at him, "You still haven't told them the whole truth?"

"Nope. And every interaction with them makes me realize I never will. They wouldn't understand."

"I thought you did. Delko at least seems to not hold a grudge."

"Yeah, but Delko can't. I mean, look at what he did. He almost made me blind."

"You forgave him."

"So he has to forgive me." Ryan shrugged. "Anyways…. I don't feel like bumping into Cal again. I don't wanna sound weak or whiny, but…"

"Oh, shut up. You're neither weak nor whiny. Look at what you've been through. Takes a lot to handle that…" Nicole dialled Calleigh's number. "Cal? Nic. Listen. How many guns were involved in the Gables shooting? You're sure? No mistakes? You don't make mistakes? Well, remember how you cooperated with the bad guys who kidnapped you? That was quite a mistake… You wanted to safe your life? You know… the good cop thinks of other people's lives first before he thinks of his own… but well, once you are in a situation like this, you'll understand that too. Bye, hon." She hung up. "Two guns."

"Could mean two shooters."

"Or one shooter with two hands."

"Or that… and you thought it was a good idea to say these things to Calleigh because…?"

"I'm an evil person. So, what do we do next?"

Ryan got up from his chair, "First, I offer my favourite evil person a coffee with cream. Then, I go to Coral Gables. Then, I take that piece of suit we have and show it to the little girl. The piece is big enough for her to give an educated guess if she has seen the same suit. Then, I come back and interview Badillo and Graciano."

"And why do I get a coffee?"

Ryan gave her a short smile, "You're the one that stood by my shoulder during those last weeks. I would buy you a golden coffee if it were any drinkable. Believe me, if Travers wasn't there, I would go serious on you all day…."

Nicole grinned, "I can lock him up somewhere…"

But Ryan shook his head, "I don't want him to beat me up…. He already looked damn serious when he asked me if I had indeed questioned you… Come on, let's go Coral Gables."

"Yes, Officer Wolfe…"

* * *

**Golden Coffee.... Anyways. Finally a break in the case... Want more? Stay tuned for Chapter 8.  
**


	8. … is who’s gonna run this town tonight

**Took a while this time, but here it is, my next chapter... I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: See chapters before.  
**

* * *

**8. … is who's gonna run this town tonight**

The stay in Coral Gables was shorter than expected. "How could I not notice this?" Ryan said while kneeling next to the entrance door.

"Because it's small." Nicole said. "An eagle wouldn't have seen it."

"Yeah, but we must be better than the eagles…" Ryan bagged the small fibre which he had found on the door lock and handed it over to Travers.

"Thank you. Exactly, why did I have to leave my lab? Wouldn't it have been much easier if you had just bagged it and brought it over?" Travers gave Ryan a look.

"Well, yes, but we can't waste any time. I have a lot on my plate today." Ryan gave Travers an apologetic smile. "But you know… a little sun doesn't hurt you…"

Travers gave him a cold look, "I know I'm a bit pale, and that I will never look like Walter Simmons from night shift. Walter is 6' 6''. You're 5'11''. At least I can get a bit of a tan." Now he smiled. "And now I'm going back to my lab. Bye, girlfriend."

"Bye, boyfriend…."

Ryan watched Travers leaving, "I… Oh, I don't really worry about my height…"

"Nah, don't. I mean, look at me."

Ryan frowned, "You almost tower over Travers. What's there to worry about?"

"I am girl. Being a tall man is cool. Being a tall girl without being a size zero is bad."

"No it isn't."

"Yes, I know. Just wanted to see what you think. So, off to hospital now?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

---

The six year old daughter of Alfredo Marcinelli was sitting in a hospital bed, eating sweets. Ryan and Nicole sat down next to her, and Ryan asked. "Hey, little lady. How you're doing?"

"I'm fine. Who are you?"

"I'm Ryan. Nice to meet you." He held out his hand.

She took it, "Hello. I'm Martina." She looked at him. "Are you with the police?"

"Yes, I am… You have already talked to the police?"

"Yes. To Nicole." She pointed at Nicole, who waved back at her. "She is sweet. I always wanted a sister like her. But I only have Mariella. She's mean. She always steals my dolls."

"Yeah, I know how you feel. My sister always stole my parents' love…" Ryan answered before having thought. "I mean… forget that."

"That's bad," the girl said.

"Yeah, indeed…" Nicole added, placing a hand on Ryan's knee in the process. "Listen, sweetie pie. You remember what you told me about that bad man?"

"Yes, I do."

"Can you tell me once again what the suit he wore looked like?"

"Yes. It was grey with white stripes."

Ryan now took the piece of the suit out of his pocket. "Like that one?"

She looked at it. "Yes. Exactly like that one."

"Great. Thanks, little lady…" Ryan got up.

"Is he your boyfriend, Nicole?" Martina asked.

Nicole smiled, "No, sweetie pie, he's just a very, very close friend of mine."

"Ah." She looked at Ryan now. "Why are you not her boyfriend?"

Ryan had to smile, "She already has a boyfriend."

"So, you don't have a girlfriend?"

"No…. It's because I'm not as tall as her boyfriend, I guess…"

"Ah. I see. But you're tall enough for me…"

Ryan blushed, but Nicole lay her arm around his shoulder, "Sorry, kid, but I already promised my roomie she could have him…"

"Oh. Okay." The kid smiled. "Are you going to visit me again soon?"

"Sure, honey. We'll stay in touch." Nicole got up, and both she and Ryan left the room.

Outside, Ryan said, "So, it could be our guy. I don't get it. One shooter…"

"It sounds weird yes, but it is possible…"

Ryan sighed, "I just hope Travers can tell us if the fibre in Coral Gables matches the others."

"Travers can do everything." Nicole grinned. "Oh look, there's Alexx."

But Alexx was busy, so she only shortly waved at them. A few seconds later, she raced back, accompanying the ER team. "What can you tell me?"

"Caucasian male, 20ish, car accident. Someone shot at his car. He got hit."

Alexx looked at the victim, "Do we have an ID?"

"ID says name's Michael Travers…."

Ryan didn't hear the rest of it. He just knew that within the next second, he followed Nicole who followed Alexx. He could barely keep up. Although Nicole was wearing her high heels, she ran like she was being chased by every single member of the Russian mob. Just at the door of the operating theatre, she managed to get a hold of Alexx.

"Nicole, I need to…"

"I know. He's my boyfriend. His blood type is O negative. If you need blood, Ryan and I are here. We have the same."

Alexx looked at her, then hugged her, "I'll call a nurse immediately. Don't worry; your man is in safe hands." She gave her a smile and followed the ER team into the room.

Nicole just looked at the door, "Mikey…."

Ryan laid an arm around her shoulder, "He'll be alright. Don't worry. Come on, let's go. They might need our blood."

Nicole nodded absently, "Yes… yes…"

---

After they had donated blood, both drove back to the HQ. Ryan opened the door to Nicole, "Are you sure you don't wanna stay at hospital?"

She sighed, "I know, this makes me a really bad girlfriend. Alexx told me she'll call when he's out of surgery. In the meantime, I try to find out who did this…."

"I look at the car as soon as I have it in here. And now I'm going to question Graciano and Badillo…"

"Let me do it."

"What?" Ryan stopped in mid-walking.

"Let me do it. Let me question them. Give me one moment with them alone, and I find out who shot whom, which gang is against which gang, and who nearly killed my man…"

"Nicole, you know I can't let you do that…"

"Yeah, but you know you're not supposed to do it either… Ryan, please…."

Ryan bit his lip, "I know this is important for you. But Nicole… If this goes wrong, we have to let them all back on the street. I have no objections in you joining me when I grill them. But I need you to promise me that you won't… do whatever you do that gets you in trouble with Stetler."

"Okay. Because I like you. I'm going to be all serious and not knock this guy out. Pinky Promise."

"Good…"

---

Badillo had been advised by his lawyer to not say a word, so they moved to Graciano. Ryan gave him a smile, "So, Carlos… We found your DNA on the body of a cop…"

Graciano smiled back, "Yes. That was me. He deserved it. And you'll be next…"

"Why did he deserve it?"

"Because he didn't protect mi hermano from being beaten up by you two…"

Ryan nodded, "I see… so, me and Nicole are next. What do you plan, then? Cutting both our arms off? You can hardly top what you did to Baker…"

"You would be surprised…." He leaned forward. "You have no idea…."

"Okay, Graciano. Let me tell you something." Ryan said. "We have your DNA on a cop you have killed. I think that maybe, we could cut a little deal. You tell us what you know, and maybe we tell the state's attorney that you don't really deserve the lethal injection and that they shall just keep you off the streets for the rest of your life…"

Graciano laughed, "Yeah, right…What do you wanna know? I maybe give you something, since I feel your pathetic lot will never find out the truth…"

"We will, even if you don't tell us, but well… Who shot _La famiglia_? One of you guys?"

Graciano shook his head, "No. We thought they were the ones killing our friends."

"Is that why you sent Badillo over to set the club on fire?"

"Maybe. Maybe not…."

"Okay. Next question then. One of our guys was attacked today. You know something about that?"

Graciano shook his head again. "No. As long as your man didn't hurt any of us, we don't hurt them."

Now Nicole leaned forward, "Graciano, what happened to you and the _Habaneros_?"

Graciano shrugged, "Times are rough… And they're about to get rougher…"

"What do you mean?"

He chuckled, "Look around you. You are facing a gang war. The gangswill fight each other, and nothing will stop them. Surely not the police. You've seen how it ends with Baker and that other guy you were talking about. I tell you, before the week… no, before the night is over, this city is in our hands. Bleeding, but in our hands. And there is nothing you can do…. Besides mourning the victims…." Now he laughed.

Nicole joined him, "Ahahahaha, that's so funny, cause you're so wrong!" She stopped laughing that second, "Believe me, as long as I live, no gang will ever take over this town."

"Then you might wanna say your family good bye tonight…"

Ryan waved to the patrol outside, "Take him away…." As he was out, he turned to Nicole, "What do we do?"

Nicole nibbled her lower lip, "I… I might be mistaken… but I think you were right this morning…"

"What do you mean?"

"Graciano thought it was _La famiglia_ who shot his people. But he says they didn't shoot them…"

Ryan looked at her, "You don't really believe him?"

"I do."

"But can you trust him?"

"They don't lie. Normally. I mean, he confessed immediately that they killed Baker. Why not confessing in killing _la famiglia_?"

"He didn't confess the club incident either…"

"Because that was Badillo…."

Ryan frowned sceptically, "So, you think we're dealing with a third gang?"

"It's not that far fetched…. You thought of that too this morning"

"True… but how are we gonna find out which gang it is?"

"That's gonna be difficult, since we're not even sure if there is one, plus, we don't know what role they have…"

"Let's play it through… Graciano says they didn't shoot la famiglia. If we believe him, it means it was a third gang who did it. Which means that…"

Nicole nodded, "The piece of tissue we found. That was theirs. Which means…"

"The same guy robbed the gun shop. Which means that it is our third gang who has all the guns…"

"And who shot the _Habaneros_ in Little Havana… Remember, Natalia found the same tissue there… And the bullets match."

"They also match the scene in Coral Gables. So, who could hold a grudge against _La famiglia_ and the _Habaneros_?"

"Oh dear… pick a card, any card…" She sighed, "What's the next step?"

Ryan shrugged, "Back to basics, I guess…. I go and find out if we can match the bullets from Travers to any of our shootings. And you go and talk to some people to find out what gangs would benefit from a gang war between the _Habaneros_ and _la famiglia_…"

Nicole grinned, "Who says I know people?"

Ryan got up, "I remember you once told me you have sources everywhere. Should be a piece of cake for you…" He blinked, "See ya later…"

"See you…" Ryan left the interrogation room just as Nicole started singing, "_The only thing that's on my mind is who's gonna run this town tonight_…." (1)

* * *

(1) Run this town - Jay-Z feat Rihanna and Kanye West

**Likey?**


	9. Life's a game but it's not fair

Oh my God, I am so sorry for the long wait, but I had a serious writer's block, and was busy with university stuff. I don't know whether any of this is over now, so I don't know when I'll be able to update again. I hope you do like this chapter though, I don't think it's very good, but I'm just glad to have it up now.

**I don't own anything you recognize, only Nicole Ferguson and Marian. The title is again from the song "Run this town" (2 Grammies? That's amazing!). **

* * *

**9. Life's a game but it's not fair**

Ryan went to hospital to get the bullets from Alexx, and was greeted with good news. Alexx smiled at him when she handed him the bullets, neatly packed away in an evidence envelope, "Surgery went well. He's already awake and asked for Nicole."

"Oh, that's good. I call her. Do you think I could ask him a few questions?"

Alexx nodded, "Yes, you can, but don't overexcite him."

"Overexcite Travers? That's nearly impossible…."

---

Travers was lying in bed when Ryan entered, but immediately opened his eyes. "Hello, Ryan."

"Hey Michael. Everything alright?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. Doctors said the bullets didn't hit anything vital; it was just the blood loss that made it critical. How many suspects did Nicole kill so far?"

Ryan had to grin, "Well, no one. But I had to use all of my skills." He then took his notepad out, "Is there anything you can tell me?"

"Not much, though. I was on my way to the lab when suddenly the car wouldn't drive anymore. Out of fuel, I guess. Have you checked that?"

Ryan shook his head, "Not yet, the car has yet to been tied to the garage. Delko was at the scene, but since they never tell me anything anymore, I have to ask…"

Travers frowned, "Is there anything you want to… talk about?"

"No, no, no. Just reflecting on the hardships of life. So, what happened next?"

"Well, I got out. I mean, it could have been something else. I'm not a mechanic, after all. But when I opened the door, I had a gun in my face. Two guys, all in suits, they had gotten out of a car behind me."

"A white van?"

Travers frowned again, "Ehm, no… A white Lamborghini. Well, actually, it wasn't all white. It was a very special white colour, if I was a girl, I could probably tell you if it was eggshell white, or more creamy, or maybe even Isabelline or seashell, or cosmic latte… and you know, if there was paint transfer I'd be happy to tell you exactly what shade, but since there isn't any paint transfer, and I don't have my microscope here… it was a white Lamborghini. Sorry if I drifted off."

Now it was Ryan who frowned, "And then they knocked you on the head?"

"No. Why?"

"Just thought… What happened then?"

"They shoved me back into the car. One was still holding the gun into my face; the other was rummaging through the stuff in the car, probably trying to find the piece of the suit I was supposed to bring to the lab. He didn't find it. But then…" Travers swallowed, "they started searching me. I wouldn't let them, so they shot me. Two times. At some point, they left me there, closed the door… Then I heard more shots, I think they were aiming at the car. When everything was silent, I called 911. They came immediately."

Ryan nodded, "How come no one else noticed?"

"The street was empty. I took a shortcut to the lab, since I had lots of work to do."

"Is there anything you can tell me about the men?"

Travers thought about it, "They had accents. Can't place them anywhere though. Except that they weren't British. Both were tall, really tall, and slim. One smelled of Nicotine. And the one that shot was a lefty."

"Why do you think the shot at the car?"

"No idea." Travers sighed. "Have you got anything so far?"

"No. As I said before, the car hasn't yet arrived at the lab. But I go to the scene later on, after I dropped the bullets at Calleigh's." Ryan got up. "You get well soon, matey. I can't handle a case, a city on fire, the hatred of my co-workers and your worried girlfriend."

Now Travers smiled, "Don't worry, I'll be back soon, Dr Woods says. Oh, and, before I forget… I don't know whether you need my clothes… But in the left pocket of my trousers is something you might find interesting…"

Ryan walked to the chair, where, in a plastic bag, were Travers' clothes. They were covered in blood. Ryan put gloves on and carefully went through the bag until he pulled something out of the pocket: the evidence back with the piece of the suit Ryan had collected earlier this morning. He turned to Travers, "I thought…"

Travers grinned, "What, you thought they had found it? Nope. Guess why I didn't let them search me…"

Ryan shook his head, "You're mental. They could have killed you."

"Yeah, but they didn't. And I got our evidence."

Now Ryan had to grin too, "You know, I always wondered how you and Nicole fit together. Now I know. You're both completely and utterly insane."

"And still, we're alive and kicking…"

---

Nicole was sitting at one of the computers at the lab when Ryan arrived back there. "Hey Nicole. Just got back from Travers. He's alright."

Nicole's eyes were glued to the screen, "Yeah, I know, Alexx has phoned me, I'll see him later today."

"Good, because he misses you. And he might need someone to lecture him about different shades of white."

"Yah..."

"You're not really listening…."

Nicole smiled, "Sorry, but this is important…"

Ryan looked up, "Really? Something about our third gang?"

"What? No. I'm harvesting my coffee."

"What?"

"I'm harvesting my coffee. And my grapes."

Ryan walked around so he could see the screen, "Is that a farm?"

"Yes. It's my farm. And I'm a very successful farmer, they always tell me."

"Okay. Well, I… don't really know what to say. I thought the only one I know who would ever work on a virtual farm would be Cooper."

"Aw, well…. Anyways. I talked to a friend of mine… Oh, look the dairy farm's ready!"

Ryan reached over her shoulder and switched the screen off. "I'm sorry, lovey, but the city is about to be hit by a gang war, your dairy farm can wait…"

"Yeah, but my raspberries can't! They'll be ready in…"

"Nicole!"

She sighed, "Okay, okay… So, I talked to a friend of mine who is a member of the _Habaneros_. He said that, as far as he knows, nobody planned a hit on _la famiglia_. But then again, he's not one of the bosses, so they might have done it anyways. I asked him if there's any gang he could think of that could hold a grudge against _la famiglia _and the _Habaneros_. He said there is a possibility that a French gang from Little Haiti would plan such a thing. They're called _les invincibles_. He says it might be them, killing of members of both gangs, as to play them out against each other. You know, the _Habaneros_ prolly didn't know about the death of _la famiglia_, thought it was them who shot the _Habaneros_ and therefore sent off Badillo to shoot the people in the club. And my mate thinks it looks like something the Frenchies would do…"

"So, you say he thinks, which means, he isn't entirely sure?"

"No. He says that normally they tend to really slaughter their enemies. He knows of one case where they left mutilated bodies behind. And if I say mutilated, I mean it…"

"You mean, like Marty? And his missing arm?"

"Yes. Only worse. At times, they only left a torso behind. I'll go and see Alexx after I'm done with the farm, ask her if she remembers bodies like these."

"Also ask the guy from nightshift. Might be that they got those cases, because frankly, I don't remember anything like that. But I'll look it up in the computer… as soon as you're done with the farm…."

"Good. It'll only take me… well, you can go grab a bite."

"I see… well, I know a nice little restaurant around the corner. Italian. I mean… It's already late, we're off the clock anyways, but since we won't get any sleep, and since Alexx won't be at the hospital later and they won't even let you in that late, so we have the whole night to check all the files we have on dismembered bodies… so, we could at least eat something decent."

Nicole wiggled her nose, "True. That's quite convincing. Except for the part of not getting any sleep, because I will sleep. And if I have to sleep on the break room table…"

--

Ten minutes later, Nicole and Ryan were sitting at a window desk in the restaurant just around the corner of the lab. Ryan said, "I feel a bit unrelaxed…"

"Shall I give you a…"

"I didn't mean like this!" Ryan grinned. "It's just, I feel bad. This is an Italian restaurant. Don't Italians pair up? I mean… there could be a surviving member of _la famiglia_ sitting here, just waiting for us to be the only guests left and then drag us to a dark chamber and torture us for information…"

Nicole looked at him, deeply into his eyes, and answered, "What makes you think that?"

"I know, I'm just sometimes, it all comes back to be…"

"What makes you think we'll be the only guests left at the end of the evening? What are your plans for tonight?"

Ryan frowned, "I don't have…"

She laughed, "I know, Ryan, I know… Gosh, you should have seen the look on your face! Anyways, I don't think the Italians here are linked to _la famiglia_, and you have to learn that not everybody in the world is out to torture you."

"I stopped believing that the day I was born. I could swear, when the doctor first held me, he was already looking at my blood smeared body and thought blood would look good on me."

"This is kinda sick."

"Yeah I know. Don't know where that came from…" Ryan sighed, "I think I'll have the Pizza Diavola."

"Not really, though. It isn't really diavola, if you get me. Order it with extra pepperoni, that might help. I'll have the… puh… it's hard… I can never decide… I'll have the Bolognese."

They waited until the waiter had taken their orders, then Nicole asked, "How's things with your shrink? I mean, I notice that at least you can now talk about it with a bit of humour at least…"

Ryan shrugged, "Yeah, somehow. I learned along the way that at some points it is best not to take yourself too serious. But then again, it is very often only a façade. I'm just not in the position to… show how I feel."

"Well, I think that's wrong. You are a human being. And you know, with the job we work, meeting a human being is quite rare…"

"Yeah, right, but still. Can you imagine me talking to Delko or Calleigh about what I actually felt during this whole ordeal? I can't. I can only talk to you and maybe Alexx…"

"Well, you don't need more then, do you? I mean, Alexx and I are listening."

"Yeah… but still. Look, there's still some things you don't know, like there are some things Alexx doesn't know…"

"Why don't you tell everything? At least one of us."

"I really don't wanna bother anybody…"

"Bullshit. Oh sorry, language… What I mean is, we're friends, right?"

"Sure… I know…. But I still don't feel ready…" It was true; he wasn't ready to talk about his childhood. Not even to Nicole. The others knew, because of that case a few months ago, which had opened his whole life to them. He sighed, "Let's just eat, yeah…"

"Okay, but you know my number. And my mail address… Oh, by the way, have you got any plans for the weekend?"

"Yeah, I'm going out with the many friends I have…. Of course I don't. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you have plans now. The ladies, Michael, Marian and I are going out, and you'll be joining us."

"I…"

"Yeah, I know. It's all ladies, and it'll prolly end up again in a huge explosion, because it always does when we're out together, but I think we should take that risk…"

Ryan shrugged, "A little explosion at least brings some fun to an otherwise boring weekend ahead of me. So, where are we going?"

"It's Big Band night downtown. I tell you, it's gonna be fun. We're gonna be CSI by day, swing kids by night (1) …"

"Sounds good. Yeah, I'll join you. Thanks for inviting me…." The waiter brought their food. Ryan hadn't even touched the knife when suddenly, a loud alarm was heard. He looked out of the window. "Police cars."

"Where are they driving to?

Ryan waited a bit. When the noise didn't stop, he got up, "I think they're in front of the lab…"

Nicole put her napkin down, "So much for a relaxed dinner… Life's not fair, really. Come on, let's go and check."

* * *

The original quote is from the movie Swing Kids: "HJ by day, Swing Kinds by night." I don't own.

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**Please bare with me, I will finish this story, I swear, I just don't know when. Please enjoy this. **


	10. I break the rules so I don't care

Sheesh. I'm sufering from a serious writer's block on this story. Still, I do hope you like it, reviews are especially now truly appreciated to keep me going and fighting and all.

**I don't own nothing but Nicole. CSI Miami belongs to CBS, and Run this town (you know about the title) belongs to Jay Z**.

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**10. I break the rules so I don't care**

About six police cars were parking in front of the lab when Nicole and Ryan arrived. Frank Tripp was on his phone, calling for a SWAT team when he saw them two. He hung up and walked over to them. "Alarm was set off in DNA lab. We don't know anything yet, only that apparently there are some guys in there."

"In DNA lab?"

Tripp shook his head, "Not just there. Right after the alarm in DNA, Trace and Morgue set off alarms too…"

"Is the nightshift already in?" Nicole asked. Ryan knew why she asked. Valera.

"We don't know. We don't know a thing, to be honest. Not how many are in there, not why they are in there, nor how many and who of our people are in there. We basically have to wait for them to contact us…"

Ryan nodded, but Nicole shook her head, "I'm not gonna wait."

Frank looked at her, "Ferguson, I'm not in the mood to discuss with you now. You will stay here and not do anything that could endanger anybody's life. We don't know what those people want…" His cell phone rang again. He took the call and turned away.

Ryan sighed, "I don't know but I think I maybe know what those people want…." He turned around to get support from Nicole, but there was no Nicole. He could only see a red haired figure running around the corner to the back entry of the HQ. "Why? Why? Why? Why can't you just listen to Frank? Why can't you just be nice and sane and stop doing the exact opposite of what people want you to do? And now I have to run after you, just because… well just because I'm exactly the same as you are…" He checked on Frank, who was still on the phone, and then ran after Nicole. He caught her at the emergency exit. "You know this is against all rules?"

"Does this door open when you're on the wrong side of it?"

"I don't even wanna imagine what Stetler will do to us if he finds out…"

"I can't open the god damn door. Does it open anyways?"

"Nicole, are you listening?"

"No, I'm not. Is there any window I could climb through?"

"We could also just wait until they tell us what they want and let out guys negotiate with them!"

"Ryan, seriously, we all know what they want. They're here for the same reason they shot Travers, they want the piece of suit. And I'm not gonna give it to them."

"They prolly have it already and have left the lab…."

"Then why should we wait for them to contact us? Besides, if they were gone, our lab rats would have told us already. Believe me, they're in there, and I'll go in there too, and if the guys who shot at my man are in there this will end in a fucking bloodbath."

Ryan looked at her while she frantically tried to open the emergency door. "Have you finally left the world of the sane people now?"

"Now? Yes. Okay, this won't open. I need a window. Do we have a toilet on the bottom floor?"

"The men's bathroom, yes…."

Nicole nodded, "Good. Come on, give me a hand."

Ryan frowned, "You wanna climb through the window? No offense, Nicole, but the window is small, and you're not exactly an elf…"

She looked at him, "I know, but thanks for reminding me. Nevertheless, I'm a dancer, and I will get through this window. Whereas you… you won't."

Ryan chuckled, "I know I won't, but I tell you, you won't either. Wanna bet?"

Nicole grinned, "You? The world's worst gambler? You wanna bet with me?"

"If you win, I owe you a dance this weekend. If I win, you will stay here and let SWAT do this. Alright?"

Nicole frowned, but then smiled, "You better buy some new dance shoes…. So, where's the window?"

Ryan pointed at the window on the corner. It was small; a child could have gotten through it, a top model too. Valera, maybe. But Nicole? Okay, she wasn't fat or anything, but still, this window? "If you get stuck, don't scream. They might hear you."

"Aren't you the funniest kid on earth? Come on, give me a hand."

"I'd better give you some butter to put it on the window frame. Maybe that would help." He grinned, but nevertheless leaned against the wall and gave her a bunk-up. She stood on his shoulders. Ryan couldn't see what she was doing, but suddenly, she was gone. He turned around and just saw her feet disappearing.

Thirty seconds later, she was opening the emergency door, grinning, "_Bei mir bist du schön… please let me explain…_(1) You owe me a dance."

"How did you do that? I mean, you're like three times…"

"Fatter than the window? I love you too. Come on, let's go and save some lab rats asses."

"I didn't mean… Yeah okay, come on. Time to be the heroes for once."

"Great. Shall we split up?"

"No, no. Let's stick together. What did Frank say, the first alarm came from DNA?"

"Yap. And then Trace and the morgue. What do you think?"

Ryan frowned, "Well, if were a criminal, I'd lock them up in the morgue, set a guard there and have the rest linger around in Trace and look for the suit. If that's what they're after…"

"I mean, how many other possibilities are there? We're both sure this is our guys."

Ryan shrugged, "Yeah. But it could be any other madman from any other case…"

"Yeah, but it isn't."

"Okay. So, there are two possibilities. Trace and Gun lab."

"Gun lab?"

Ryan nodded gloomily, "Always think of how this started. Robbery into a gun shop."

"Yeah, but isn't the gun lab like… secured?"

"Of course, but you never know… So, where do we start?"

Nicole wiggled her nose. "I'd say we try and get into Trace lab. If we can't get the guys, we need at least to get the evidence…"

"Shouldn't we look for our people first? I mean, there are prolly cops somewhere in here, we could need help…"

"Good idea. So you go and look for our people, and I go to Trace lab."

"I thought we wouldn't split up?"

"No, you said we wouldn't split up. I never agreed." She grinned, "Give 'em hell when you meet 'em."

Ryan smiled back, "When we'll meet them. Let's stick together, Nicole. We have better chances to win if we meet them together. And you know I'm right…."

Nicole sighed, "Okay, okay. For once, we'll be together at the great showdown…"

Ryan grinned, "Yeah. We will. But before one of us dies, will you answer me a question?"

"Shoot."

"How did you get through the window? I mean, seriously, you are…"

"Fat?"

"Ehm... well not exactly fat…"

She laughed, "Oh, I'm so gonna miss you if you die in there. Listen, you know me and your uncle's window climbing girlfriend are close? Let's just say, she taught me some basic tricks to get through windows. Believe me, I could get you through that window…"

"I doubt it. But hey, I learned things from Ron; you learned things from Ann…"

"Yeah. We could be the 2010 Bonnie and Clyde if only we weren't fighting for the good side." She smiled, "And now, let's kick some serious ass…"

"Yeah, before we then get our own asses kicked because we're breaking the rules…"

---

Both made their way to Trace lab, and were greeted with the sight of three man rummaging through every drawer in the lab. They were talking French. Quickly they hid behind the translucent glass walls of the room and listened. Ryan watched Nicole. He knew she was fluent in French and tried to read from her face what the bad guys were talking about. After a few seconds she nodded and showed him four fingers. So there were four guys. Ryan guessed the forth was somewhere watching hostages. But he could wait. While Nicole continued listening, Ryan scanned the guys. They were carrying guns, but all of them were lying on the table where Travers normally did his work. So, if they were fast enough, they could get to them without them even having the time to grab their guns. He nudged Nicole and showed her what he meant. She nodded again and reached for her gun. Ryan held up three fingers and counted down.

At the count of three, Nicole got up, kicked the door open and screamed, "MIAMI DADE POLICE, put your hands in the air!!!!"

The three men turned around, two had their hands in the air, but the third one, a relatively small one, immediately dived for the table with the guns, and managed to grab one. But before he could point it at Nicole, Ryan already had pointed his gun at him, "I'd put that down if I were you… If you move as much as a finger, I'll shoot you. Now, put that gun down and go down on your knees…"

"Same goes for you, laddies! Down on your knees…" Nicole murmured.

Ryan let the guy out of his eyes only for a second, but that second was enough. The guy aimed at Nicole and shot. Ryan reacted out of instinct when he took a shot. The guy went down. Ryan immediately turned to the other two guys, who hadn't moved. Mainly because Nicole was still standing there, pointing her gun at them. "See, you better listen to the man, cause he's not kidding… Down on your knees!!!"

And finally, both men went down on their knees. A minute later, they were handcuffed and sitting on the floor. Ryan had searched them rapidly, but they hadn't found the piece of suit. "Is it anywhere on the tables?"

Nicole shook her head, "Can't find it…"

Ryan looked up, "You're alright, yeah? He didn't hit you?"

Nicole laughed, "We handcuff them, you frantically look for your evidence first and only then ask me if I'm not hit? Don't you think I would have died by now if he had hit me?" She pointed at the wall behind her, "There's your bullet. The guy was worse than Natalia; she at least does hit something after all…"

"Okay, good. Now, on to the next problem… Where is your partner??" Ryan addressed the two men.

"You 'ave just killed him…"

"I'm not talking about him. I'm talking about the fourth one…"

"Sere is no forth one…" the older man replied.

Nicole grinned, "Mon ami, je vous ai compris très bien, et je sais qu'il y en a un quatrième. Et je conseille chaudement de me dire où il se trouve parce que sinon, je vais vous casser la gueule. Avec plaisir... (2)

The man looked at her and said, "Il est à la morgue. Avec les otages." (3)

"Thank you very much." Nicole turned to Ryan. "Morgue. With the hostages. Do you have handcuffs on you?" Ryan shook his head. "Okay, wait a second." She rummaged through one of the drawers and brought out a pair of handcuffs. "Okay, there we go." They handcuffed the guys. "You stay tight, boys, we'll be right back with your little friend."

Ryan grinned, "And don't try anything stupid… We'll call some of our friends outside." He opened the door for Nicole and then became serious again. "Are you sure there's only one downstairs?"

"Yap. They definitely referred to only one more."

"Okay, good. And why exactly does Travers keeps handcuffs in his drawer?" He grinned when asking this question.

"To handcuff annoying CSIs to the doorknob when he doesn't want to be disturbed."

----

They silently made their way to the morgue and were greeted with the sight of an extremely tall and slim man. He carried a machine gun and was scanning the area. Ryan pulled Nicole further back so that they were out of earshot. "Okay. He's carrying a machine gun. Shouldn't we go out and call back up?"

"Yeah, probably… I think our guns might fail epically against him…" Nicole sighed, "But I don't want to call back up. I wanna nail him down and ask him who shot my man, and then go and trash the one that did."

Ryan shrugged, "It was probably him. Travers told me the guy who shot at him was left handed. And he carries his gun in his… where are you going?"

"Trash the guy!"

"No, no, wait!!!" He pulled her back. "You want an epic fail? He's got a machine gun!!"

"And I got fury! He shot my guy, I wanna shoot him!"

"He's gonna shoot you before you can even point the gun at him. Nic, listen, you don't do Travers a favour if you get shot. At least I hope so. Come on, let's get out, let's call some guys with bigger guns than ours, and once we get this guy, you can do whatever you want to him, I won't look. How does that sound?" Of course, he had no intention of letting her do what she wanted, but as long as she believed him and stopped acting like a nutcase, every lie was fine. "Come on, Nikky."

She looked at him, and then nodded, "But only if I really can get my hands on him."

"I'll even hand you some pliers…" He smiled a bit, and took her hand. "Just because I'm afraid you'll run away again like you did earlier."

"And here I thought you would try to make the best out of our romantic time together."

---

They had just made their way to the entrance hall when suddenly shots echoed.

---

Bei mir bist du schön – Andrew Sisters. Don't own.

French: "My friend, I have understood you, and I know there is a fourth one. And I recommend you to tell me where he is, because if not, I'm going to trash you. With pleasure."

"He's at the morgue. With the hostages."

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**EVIL cliffhanger. I hope you somehow did like this chapter. As I said, one hell of a writer's block. Please do review. I normally don't beg, but... Well, today I do. **


	11. So I keep doing my own thing

**Again, sorry for the long wait. I wanted to have a bit of a buffer before I start publishing again. Anyways. This chapter has been beta'ed by the wonderful Dragonfriend95. Thank you so much. That girl is an amazing author and a lovely person to work with.**

**I don't own anything you recognize. Not the show, not the characters, not the music. Please enjoy  
**

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**11. So I keep doing my own thing**

Nicole and Ryan immediately reacted and threw themselves on the floor. Ryan rolled under the nearest table while Nicole hid behind the reception desk, both with their hands on their guns. It took them a while to realize that the shots actually came from… the outside. Nicole glanced over the desk and motioned Ryan to look. What Ryan saw was a complete disaster. Some patrol cops were lying on the ground, killed by…

"How many are there?"

Nicole answered gloomily, "I guess about 5 to 7… This is bad, real bad…"

"You think they're here for…" But steps on the floor stopped him. He hid again under the table and saw that Nicole was hiding too.

And they were right to hide, because the guy that had guarded the morgue ran around the corner. He didn't notice either Nicole or Ryan but ran to the door, his hand outstretched to touch the doorknob. Ryan decided in a split second. Apparently he wanted to open the door for the ones outside. So far, the HQ was secure. Most of the glass walls were bulletproof and could stand being hit by normal bullets and machine gun bullets. Plus, the cops that had survived the first attack were now aiming at the shooters, apparently ready to kill anybody who came too close to the doors. But if this guy opened the door, he had a free shot to kill all the cops in reach. And Ryan wouldn't let that happen. So he came out from under the table and aimed at the guy. But he fell down before Ryan could even shoot. When Ryan turned around to see the reception desk, he saw that Nicole was already sitting on it, gun in her hands.

He grinned, "Seems I wasn't fast enough…"

Nicole shrugged, "Now he and I are even. An eye for an eye… Him for Travers. But what are we gonna do about those guys outside? I mean, they are probably here to get their guys out. Or at least their remaining guys…"

Ryan nodded, "I guess so…." Then the telephone rang. "That's prolly them. You wanna pick up?"

Nicole grinned, "Yeah, right, and cause a bloodbath. No, man, you go talk to them, and I'll go and see who's in the morgue, since the door is now open…"

"Okay, as you wish…" Ryan picked up the phone. "This is Detective Wolfe speaking. Who's there?"

"Ah, monsieur Wolfe… We'd like to speak to ze young lady who knows French."

"Sorry, she's not available. Guess you'll have to stick with me. What do you want?"

"Okay… we want our men back. You still have zree more men in therr. And we want them back. Alive."

"Sorry, dude, not gonna happen. How about you just drop your guns and give up?"

"Sorry, dude, not gonna 'appen. But you might wanna zink about it if I tell you who we 'ave in our hands…"

Ryan felt his body freeze, "What do you mean?"

"See, zis is why we wanted to talk to Mademoiselle Ferguson. She might be interested to know that we 'ave two men in 'ospital in ze same room with her boyfriend…"

Ryan swallowed, "How do you know?"

"You should have taken ze cellphones from our friends. Sey called us and told us her boyfriend is the man our friend Sébastien shot zis morning. You know, maybe she should not dig up 'andcuffs from her boyfriend's drawer when with enemies… Anyways, you can tell 'er zat we only leave 'er boyfriend alone if we get our men back. And don't try to call a SWAT team. We might be only 6 'ere, but zere are many more of us around 'ere. I give you an hour to talk to Mademoiselle Ferguson. Au revoir." The line went dead.

Ryan took a deep breath and put the phone down. One hour to decide what to do. He knew that the only possibility was to give them what they wanted. He had been in the same situation before, with the Russians. But this time, he would be prepared. They had one hour. He ran over to the morgue. Outside, Nicole was just hugging Valera, who looked shaken, but happy to be back with her weird sister. The others who had apparently been in the morgue were some of the night shifts lab techs, among them Walter Simmons, and Tara and Kyle. All of them were alright. That was at least something.

Nicole now noticed Ryan and smiled, "Look!! Valera is okay!"

"I can see that… Nicole, we gotta talk."

"What's the matter?"

"Can we go somewhere private?"

Nicole frowned, "Sure…" They walked out of earshot of the others.

Ryan started, "Ehm… Listen, you were right. The guys want their friends back."

Nicole nodded, "Okay, this is not really surprising… So, what do we do, we give them back pieces?"

Ryan shook his head, "I guess we have to… Promise me you will not freak out."

"When did that ever work before?"

"They have Travers. They have guys in hospital, and they will only let him go in exchange for the three musketeers in there."

He could literally see all the blood go from Nicole's face. It took her three goes to bring out the words. "Is he alright?"

"I don't know. We only have one hour to decide what we do… Listen, I have a plan."

"Yeah, me too. You do your plan, and I do mine." She hadn't even moved when Ryan held her arm again. "Let me go."

"Will you, please, for once, listen? I know you'd like nothing more than go out there and do whatever you always see in your movies. But we need to focus, we need to think."

"I need to get my boyfriend!!!!"

"Listen, I have a plan. Calleigh and Eric are at home. They live so far away from the lab that the chances are none of the baddies are lurking around their flats. We call them and send them to hospital. We have one hour, they surely won't need as long as that. As soon as we know Travers is safe, we call SWAT and have them book the guys. How does that sound?"

Nicole looked at him and smiled nervously. "It sounds good, yeah… You're right. That's the right thing to do."

"Good. Now, I want you to take the guys here and bring them somewhere safe. I'll call Cal and Delko in the meantime." He turned around and called both of them, but only got their mailboxes. "Okay. Well, if somebody has kidnapped you both and is right now trying to torture you, I don't give a damn." He hung up and turned back. Valera, Kyle, Tara and the rest were still standing there. "Why are you still standing here? I just told Nicole…" Then he noticed. It had all gone way too smooth. He hadn't noticed immediately because of the tense situation, but now he realized that Nicole had agreed on his plan way too easily. He closed his eyes for a second, "Where did she go?"

Valera answered, "She went to the toilet. She says she'll come back later…"

"Yeah, she says toilet and means emergency door or toilet window. Okay, listen, I want you to hide. No matter where. Maxie, you call Frank and tell him that the lab's clean, and he needs to come through the emergency door next to the toilets. I left it open for him. Or you just get out through there. I don't really care for now, I need to go and stop the lunatic from committing heroic suicide." He didn't even wait for an answer but only ran to the toilets. He was just fast enough to catch a glimpse of Nicole who was just leaving. He caught up with her, "Are you mental? What was so difficult to understand when I said they have people all over the city? You'll never make it to hospital without them noticing!"

"That's what you say!"

"That's what the world would say! How come I have to watch over you all the time?"

"Nobody said you have to, that was your choice. Don't you wanna go and… I don't know, leave me alone?" She looked at him. "You would do the same."

Ryan sighed, "I don't know. I guess, yeah. But… listen, why don't you wanna do what I suggested?"

Nicole closed her eyes, "My man is out there. He has just survived being shot, and now there's prolly some Frenchies in there threatening him… and I cannot even imagine how scared he must be. But you can. You know how scared he is. Why don't you understand I want to get him out of there ASAP?"

Ryan laid his arm around her shoulder, "Believe me, Nicole, I do understand you, and nobody understands you better than I. But listen, you need to focus. We'll get Travers out, but if you leave now, and they see you, he's as good as dead, probably. Come on, you're an intelligent kid, I know you know I'm right." He took a breath, "I know it's hard to stay here and do nothing. But it's the only thing to do." He let go of her, "If you believe what you're planning is better, then go, I won't stop you."

She looked and him and then sighed, "You're right. But what do we do if Calleigh and Eric don't manage?"

Ryan looked down, "I have no idea…. I have to tell you I didn't manage to get either of them on the phone…"

"You gotta be kidding me… What do we do now? We cannot possibly wait for them to crawl out of bed and answer their phone."

"I know, I know." Ryan bit his lip. "I guess the only thing we can do is wait, trying to reach them, and if we don't reach them within the next hour, we let them go…"

Nicole shook her head, "No, I won't let that happen. There must be a way out of HQ with no one noticing…"

"I'm afraid not. Well, it's possible they are bluffing. But I wouldn't count on it…"

"You think I should call Travers?"

Ryan looked at her, "You know what? Yeah, prolly you should. Why didn't we think of that earlier?"

Nicole took her cell phone. "I don't know. We were too much preoccupied with discussing what you want me to do… Yes, Michael? It's Nicole. Listen, I don't have much time… There might be… Hello?? Michael??? Who are you? Let go of him immediately!! Michael? Mike! Oui, j'écoute… Oui. Oui. Si vous… Je vous jure… Oui. Je vais faire ce que vous voulez, mais, please, ne lui faites rien. Écoutez, je vais vous proposer quelque chose. Vous apportez Travers ici, et on fait un échange. Vos mecs contre mon ami. Yeah, parlez avec votre boss. J'attends." (1) She hung up. "Okay, he'll talk it through with his boss."

Ryan looked at her, "What? You do realize I don't speak French…"

"Oh, sorry. I offered him an exchange here. In front of the lab. I wanna see Travers is alright. And with all the cops here, chances are that if he doesn't survive, neither will those… I can't even find appropriate words for what I want to call them."

Ryan looked at her, "You do love Travers, right?"

"Sure…"

"No, I… I just remembered that you once told me you were afraid of commitment. That you weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, but just hanging out… And now I see you there… It's just… weird."

She grinned, despite the fear that was obvious on her face, "Well… maybe I had the wrong men before. You know, those men pushing me into what I didn't want to do. And then came Travers. Quiet and dignified." Her phone rang again. "And I'm going to quietly and dignifiedly kick their asses." She picked up, "Ouais? Vraiment? Superbe. Je vous attend. Et si vous essayez de me… de me fooler, je vais vous tuer."(2) She hung up, "They're coming..."

"Okay… We need to prepare."

* * *

(1) Yes, I listen. Yes. Yes. If you… I swear… Yes. I'll do what you want, just, please, don't hurt him. Listen, I'll tell you something. You bring Travers here, and we'll have an exchange. Your guys against my man. Yes, talk to your boss. I wait."

(2) Yes? Really? Great. I'll wait for you. And if you try to… to fool me, I'm gonna kill you." (I didn't know the French word for "to fool", so I did some code switching. She never claimed to speak perfect French :o)


	12. Walking tall against the rain

**I am terribly sorry for the long wait, but I am seriously struggling with this story, which is why the chapter won't come as fast as I would like to. I maybe even put it on hiatus, but I'm not entirely sure. I'll let you know, though, and apologize beforehand. Again, this chapter was beta'ed by the amazing DragonFriend95. Thank you so much. **

**Disclaimer: see Chapters before. **

* * *

**12. Walking tall against the rain**

Half an hour later, Ryan and Nicole stood in front of the HQ. The bad guys were still handcuffed, and both Nicole and Ryan held their guns to the baddies' head. The situation outside the lab had calmed down. Apparently the "boss" of the gang had told his people to go away from the scene of the exchange. All members of the gang had left the place. Nicole and Ryan had told the patrol cops to leave as well. Ryan couldn't believe how smooth everything had gone. He had thought at least one of the patrols or anybody around, maybe even Frank, would call Horatio, or the IAB, or anybody to stop them from this nonsense. But as soon as the people had learned it was Michael Travers and his life this was all about, they had immediately done what they were asked to. Apparently, Michael Travers had many friends around. _Probably more than me… _Ryan thought. He was nervous like he always was when he was facing a major confrontation. And again, he was alone. Almost. They were all alone. Just them, their captives, and the car that was slowly coming closer.

It stopped in front of HQ. Ryan felt Nicole tensing up and saw the grip around her gun becoming tighter. She murmured, "I hope for the sake of you guys that they haven't roughed him up too bad, 'cause that will end bad for you…"

"You better believe the lady…" Ryan added. "And don't try anything stupid while we're at it."

The men didn't react. Then the door of the car opened. Two men got out, both of them broad- shouldered, and wearing sunglasses. And between them stood Michael Travers, pale as death. This didn't come as surprise to Ryan. The guy had just survived being shot, and now, he was in the hands of some people who weren't kidding about killing him, if it was necessary. But apart from his paleness and a split lip, Travers looked unharmed. And, more surprising, he didn't look the least bit scared. His eyes were still as lit up as ever, and he managed to stand on his own two feet. Ryan had to give credit to the lab tech. For somebody who had never really been told how to act during a kidnapping, he did pretty well. His hands were tightly bound together behind his back. He had a hard time getting out of the car, but when one of the guys wanted to grab his arm and drag him out, he said, "Thank you, but I'd rather have you not touching me." The man didn't.

Now one of them came closer and said, "Je suis content de voir que nos amis sont bien. J'espère que vous n'essayez pas de nous... fooler..." He grinned when recalling Nicole's mistake earlier. "Alors… Faisons l'échange. Je veux que vous laissez mes hommes partir. Après, je vais vous donner votre laborantin..."(1)

But Nicole was not in the mood for nice exchanges in French. "I tell you how this works. First, I get my lab tech, then you get your guys."

The man laughed, "You really zink it's you who is making ze rules. Mademoiselle, I tell you that zis is not the ze time to make me furious. I 'ave other business to do…"

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say, you might wanna enjoy time with your lab tech while you still can… Maintenant, baissez vos armes. Si vous essayez quoi que ce soit, je vais tuer votre laborantin et puis vous." (2)

Ryan looked at Nicole to find out what the guy had said. Not only did he hate such situations, but not understanding what the people involved were saying drove him mad.

Nicole looked back and said, "Let's drop the guns…" She put her gun back in her holster.

Ryan did the same. "I hope you know what you're doing..."

The man smiled, "Good decision. Now, undo ze 'andcuffs."

"First, you put your gun down." Ryan said. He was tired of doing what the French guy wanted.

Put apparently, the French guy was as tired of waiting for them to do what he wanted. He motioned to the guy standing right to Travers. That guy nodded and punched Travers right in the guts. While Travers tried hard to not land on his face, the spokesman said, "Zis is still harmless. Now, undo the 'andcuffs."

Without giving Nicole the chance to react to what had just been done to Travers, Ryan said, "Okay, okay. We'll undo the handcuffs." He knew it could be a fatal mistake. He knew that it was possible that as soon as those guys were with their friends, the friends would kill them immediately. But it was the only way to get their lab tech back. Of course, it wasn't really his plan to die right here right now. But after that experience with the Russians, he knew everybody deserved being rescued. His team had not helped him, but he would help Travers, even if it cost him his life. He owed that much to Nicole, the only one who had been looking for him and had helped him afterwards. He only whispered, "I hope your boss is for real, because if I notice he's trying something, you'll be the first to go, you understand that?"

He got no answer. The men were just walking slowly over to their boss. When they arrived, the boss laughed, "I love making business wiz you." He motioned to the guy standing right to Travers again. "I want you to know that I am a man of honour, despite what ozzer people say." The guy sliced the bounds around Travers' wrists open. Travers rubbed his abused hands and muttered a low 'Thank you'. When the guy shoved him forwards, he slowly, just as the bad guys before, walked over to Nicole and Ryan. The boss laughed and said, "Well, I say good-bye for now, but we'll surely meet again before the day is over. And I guess zan the bell tolls for you…" They got into the car and drove away.

As soon as they were around the corner, Nicole rushed over to Travers, "Mikey, are you alright?"

Travers managed a brief smile, "I daresay I had better days, but I'm alright. Just a bit dizzy."

"Don't worry, I'll bring you to hospital…"

"Did they find the piece of suit?" Travers asked.

Ryan shrugged, "As far as I know, they didn't."

Now, a slight grin appeared on the lab techs face. "I thought so. Walter called me earlier today, said he couldn't reach any of you. He said he found blood on the suit and brought it over to DNA lab…"

Ryan looked at Nicole, "How come we didn't know?"

"We were sitting in the restaurant chatting about life's hardships. And since Walter couldn't reach us, I guess Valera couldn't either. There's always bad reception in that restaurant." She picked up her phone, "I know Frank has brought her home after they got out. Golly gosh, can you imagine just how smooth it all had gone. I guess that's only possible in Miami."

"Yeah, 'cause anything's possible in Miami…" Ryan grinned.

"Even the most unrealistic things… Maxi? Are you alright? Thank God. Listen, the piece of suit Walter has handed you earlier, where is it? Are you sure the guys didn't see it? Have you processed it already? Well, then I guess you have to come back and do it, it's urgent. I know it's almost 10 PM. Don't worry, they're gone. I'll guard the door to your lab myself with an MP if that is what you want! Okay, take your time, I'll bring Travers back to hospital and then I'll pick you up. Yeah, I love you too. Bye bye." She hung up. As she turned around, both Travers and Ryan were looking at her. "What?"

Ryan grinned, "You do love Valera? Don't let Delko hear that…"

"Don't let your boyfriend hear that…" Travers murmured.

Nicole looked at them, "And while you're making fun of me both of you imagine what that would look like. Come on, Mikey."

"I'm not going back to hospital." he said. "You have heard the guy. He's got other business to do. Who knows what that business is... You might need all hands on deck. And I'm feeling okay. Really."

Nicole nodded, "Okay. Then I'll go and pick up Valera."

Ryan shook his head, "I'll go and pick her up. You need to call your 'friends'. You know, friends from the dark side. We need to know what _les invincibles _are planning. Talk to your friend from the _habaneros_; ask him if they plan any get-together anywhere. If so, _les invincibles_ might plan to crash the party. With _la famiglia _completely gone, they are the last ones that could endanger them…"

Again, Nicole nodded, "Okay, right." She sighed, "Do you think we can stop them?"

Ryan shrugged, "We have to try, at least. You have heard your friend; _les invincibles_ are way more dangerous than any other gang. I mean, what did he say? They like to leave behind mutilated bodies? We need to try our best and stop them."

"Okay. You're right. I'll go and call him. You pick up Maxie." She turned on her heel, the phone already back in her hand.

Ryan turned to Travers; his face had turned a dangerous grey shade. "Hey, man, you sure you can do this? You look bad…"

Travers breathed out loudly, "They like to leave behind mutilated bodies? And you tell me only now?"

Ryan frowned, but then he grinned, "Just imagine we had told you before… I'll pick up your girlfriend's… girlfriend. Have a cup of tea."

"Yeah. I'll probably do that…"

* * *

(1) I'm happy to see that our friends are well. I hope you're not trying to fool us. (…) So, let's make an exchange. I want you to leave our guys. After that, I'll give you your lab tech."

(2) Now, drop your guns. If you try anything, I'm gonna kill your lab tech and then you.

* * *

**As I said, I might put this on hiatus, but I don't know yet. I have started on the new chapter, but it's going slowly and it's hard. Nevertheless, I have also started on a new storywhich progresses quite well, so it's not like I'm off for good.**


	13. Victory's within the mile

**I'm on a bit of a roll right now, I guess. So, so far no signs of the hiatus. But I'll let you know how it goes on. Thanks to LeapingSenseiXxX for reviewing both my last chapters (I cannot write you a PM, so I thought I let you know like this that your reviews are truly appreciated.)**

**Disclaimer: See chapters before.  
**

* * *

**13. Victory's within the mile**

As soon as Valera was back in the lab, she processed the piece of suit. Ryan was almost sitting on her shoulder, causing her to nearly throw lab equipment at him. But then she got a result. "Okay, the blood on the piece of suit belongs to… Michael Travers."

Ryan looked at her, "What? You gotta be kidding me. So the suit got contaminated when Travers was shot?"

She grinned, "No, I'm only kidding you. That's what you get for annoying the hell out of me when I'm trying to work. The blood is from a guy called Christophe Matthieu." She turned the screen so Ryan could see the picture that had popped up.

Ryan nodded, "That's the boss. Great. We can tie him to the murders. If we get him at some point, he'll be off the street for good."

"Good. And now, go. I've really had enough for today. Especially of you."

Ryan grinned, "I see. Thanks Maxie." He left the DNA lab and wandered over to Trace where Delko, who had been called in, was fingerprinting Travers' lab. "Anything?"

"Yeah, I got many, many fantastic prints. Let's hope we can match them to anybody in AFIS."

"Great. Valera has already tied one down with the blood found on the piece of the suit."

"Good. As many as we can get. So, it means that we got the one who shot _the habaneros_ and _la famiglia_?"

"Yep. And he's one big fish. Thanks, Eric."

"Don't worry. I owe you something anyways… We haven't been treating you well these past weeks. Nicole is right; I'm sure what you did was for a good reason…"

Ryan smiled a bit, "That means a lot to me… Call me when you have the results."

"Sure."

* * *

Ryan's next stop was Calleigh's ballistics lab. "Please tell me you got something? Any result."

"Oh yeah. I have lots for you. The guns the guys left here were used in some shootings we could tie to _les invincibles_. And the bullet I got from Travers is a perfect match to all of our crime scenes. _La famiglia_, _the habaneros_, the gun shop owner and Travers have been shot by the same gun."

Ryan felt adrenaline going through his body, like always when he was close to a breakthrough. "We know who did it. We know who did it. The guy who shot all the people. We found his blood on the suit. And we found the suit at the crime scenes…"

Calleigh frowned, "Are you okay? It looks like you're hyperventilating…"

"I'm just… I'm just trying to find out if I missed something. This case is so confusing… I don't think I missed anything. I mean, everything adds up, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, as far as I see. The only thing I'm wondering about is… there was a sword stolen from the gun shop, remember? We guessed it was the sword used on Marty Baker. Tara confirmed it was possible. Now, Baker was killed by a _Habanero_…"

"Yeah, but I mean, we don't know for sure if Baker was mutilated with that exact sword. Can you find that out? If we bring you the sword, that is."

Calleigh shook her head, "I cannot. But if we find Baker's DNA on it… you know how that works."

"Yeah… Still, I doubt that. As you said, he was killed by a _Habanero_… Well thanks. I see if Nicole has got something more…"

"You do that."

* * *

Nicole was still on the phone when Ryan found her in the AV lab. She motioned him to be quiet. "Yeah, I understood. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Thank you so much, I think you just broke my case. Or at least a bit of it. Yeah. Listen, tell el señor we're not after you. We want the Frenchies. You're safe. Gracias y Adios." She turned to Ryan, "We have two hours."

"What for?"

"There is a meeting of the _habaneros_ tonight. In two hours. It was planned a week ago. My guy said they were planning to discuss some new rules for the gang, but when they lost so many people last week, they gonna do more of a funeral service. Leaders from all over the U.S. will come. That's where the _invincibles_ are going to tonight."

"But how did they find out that there's gonna be a meeting tonight?"

"I asked that too. Turns out, the habaneros are missing one of their important colleagues…. Manuel Fuentes. MIA. You know, Natalia told us she had a survivor in the _habaneros_ shooting? That's the guy. He went missing from hospital. You wanna know when?"

Ryan felt a headache coming. "Probably right before they got to Travers, right?"

"Bingo. The guys weren't there for Travers in the first place. Only when we got to their guys in the lab here, they decided to kill two birds with one stone. They must have been with Fuentes long before, or else they wouldn't have gotten all the information they have. So, when the guys here in the lab called their boss- I still cannot believe we were so stupid to not take their mobile phones- they finished off with Fuentes and got to Travers…." Her voice was a bit trembling now. "You do realize they have killed Fuentes? They could have killed Michael, too, if it weren't for the sheer luck that we managed to get them without killing them…" She swallowed hard.

Ryan sat down next to her, "It's okay, now, Nic. Travers is safe. I just saw him in his lab, going over the evidence again with Walter from nightshift. It all turned out well." He saw she was at the edge of a breakdown. "Are you okay, Nicole?"

She nodded hesitantly, "It's just now I slowly start to realize how close I was to loosing him… I mean, you said it yourself, at the beginning, I wasn't even sure I wanted this. I was so afraid of committing. You know how often I said that he wasn't my boyfriend, that we were just hanging around? And now…"

Ryan had to smile, "I know. I was actually wondering when you would finally stop calling him by his last name… When was the moment you felt it was right?"

She seemed to think about it, "Well, I think I somehow felt it was right from the beginning on, reluctant as I was. You know me, if it hadn't felt right, I wouldn't have done it. But I guess the moment I seriously felt he's the one was when he saw I had cried, and his first reaction was to jump in your face and then asking whose butt he should kick…"

Ryan remembered that scene. It had happened during one of their earlier cases. A catholic priest, who, as they had found out later was in fact the murderer they'd been looking for, had, with his comments on homosexuality, hit a nerve. Nicole had, after the interview, confessed to Ryan that she had lost a youth friend because his father couldn't accept his homosexuality and had killed him. The memory had made Nicole cry. And Travers had noticed immediately. "Yeah, I remember. I was actually quite surprised because I never thought of Travers as such a guy. But you know, he was pretty pissed off at me a few days ago when he found out I had questioned you about Marty's death. He seems quite protective over you."

Nicole nodded, "He is. I know he doesn't look the part, but he's still quite old fashioned about men who gotta protect their girls. It's something I love about him. I feel safe when he's with me. And to think I almost…" She swallowed again. "If I get my hands on these guys… Especially the one that beat him earlier… they're gonna pay for it."

Ryan laid his hand on Nicole's shoulder. "I'll make sure you get a piece…." Then he said, "Do you realize we're close of solving the case? I… I can't believe it. I thought we'd never see the end of it."

"I know, I know. Same here." She ran her fingers through her hair. "It's amazing. I cannot believe it either. This case was so confusing, you didn't know who, and why, and suddenly, the case is wide up…"

"Just because of a simple mistake they made…"

Nicole frowned, "A simple mistake?"

Ryan nodded, and his eyes became hard as steel, "To think they could mess with out team." He got up, "Come on. Let's make sure they don't see the end of this night…."

* * *

**I wanna say special thanks to all those of you who still read this and those that review. Thanks A LOT to my lovely Beta. You rock!**


	14. Almost there, don't give up now

**And we're still going, even though I noticed the chapters are smaller than in the beginning. But we're quite close to the big show, so maybe it's my way to speed things up a bit. Nevertheless I hope you enjoy it. Special thanks again to DragonFriend95. You seriously rock! **

DISCLAIMER: I don't own CSI Miami and its characters. I don't own Harry Potter or the Weasleys

* * *

**Chapter 14: Almost there, don't give up now**

They sat down in the break room, the whole team together: Calleigh, Eric, Natalia, Frank, Ryan, Tara, Nicole, Travers, Valera, Dave, and of course Horatio. He started, "Ladies and gentlemen… it's been a while since we sat here together. I wanted to let you know, before we make any plans, that you did good work. All of you." He looked at Travers, "Are you feeling alright, Mr Travers?"

He nodded, "Not too bad, thank you."

"Good to know. I want to say to you special thanks. It has been a hard day for you, and still you're here, and doing your work, which I can guess is pretty painful. I want you to go home now and rest. This won't be the last case to ever in Miami, and I need my men healthy and strong."

Again, Travers nodded, "I will."

"Thank you. Now, to the rest of you. As Ms Ferguson has found out, thanks to all your help, _Los Habaneros_ are having a group meeting tonight. Now, I want you to know we're not after them today. What we want is _Les Invincibles_. They will try and crash the party tonight. We will be there with a SWAT team to have a bit of fun ourselves. Nevertheless, I want to let you know that it's gonna be dangerous tonight. And I want you to take care." He looked around to see if his message had sunken in. "Now, I want all of you there tonight, except for our lab techs and Dr Price, of course. The SWAT teams are gonna split up, and I want you, in teams of two, to lead them. Calleigh and me are gonna lead Team Alpha. Eric and Natalia, you're gonna lead Team Beta. Frank and Ryan are gonna lead Team Gamma. Ms Ferguson, you are gonna wait with the back up team outside. I don't want you in if we can help it. I don't know how many of the _habaneros_ know that you have friends there, and I don't want to risk that connection." He looked around again. "That's it. I'll see you later." He got up and left; there were still plans to make.

* * *

Ryan went to his locker to have a few minutes for himself before they would go out and crash the party. He felt the exact same way he had felt when racing after Badillo after he had set the club on fire. The thrill of danger. His fingers were trembling with excitement. He knew it was dangerous, and he knew, with a bit of bad luck, they would not only lose members of the SWAT, but also one of the team. There were two gangs there tonight, and sure as hell the habaneros would not sit there and wait, but they would be armed, they probably even had their own back up somewhere outside. And then, the _invincibles_. They had the courage to go for a known boss of the _habaneros_, Fuentes. And they had the courage to shoot and later on kidnap a member of the MDPD. Plus, they were known all over the city for the way they treated their victims. Nicole had done some research, and mutilated torsos weren't all they were capable of. The survivors were worse off. Ryan didn't allow himself any illusions about Fuentes. He was sure they would find either his dead body, or nothing at all. And there was something else that bothered him. What if the _invincibles_ got their hands on one of their team whom was still alive? They had spared Travers only because they wanted their men back, not because they had a soft spot for the lab tech. What would happen if they caught Calleigh, or Horatio, or… him? His hands started shaking. This time out of fear. It could happen. It was possible that, if something went wrong, he would be in the hands of their enemies. Again. And the _invincibles _were not much different from the Russians. If anything, they were even worse. And, they wouldn't need him to clean up evidence or slow down a case, so they probably wouldn't be gentle with him….

"Ryan? Are you alright?" Ryan looked up. Travers stood behind him, looking worried. "Ah, so you do hear me. Are you okay? You're as pale as death."

Ryan raised his head and looked into the mirror. Travers was right. "Yeah, I'm… I'm okay. I guess it's just the adrenaline…"

"I doubt adrenaline makes you look like a living dead…"

Ryan sighed, "Yeah… I was just thinking that something could go wrong tonight, you know? We might not get back safe after all."

Travers chuckled a bit, "Don't you think I've thought about that already? I mean, I was close to not getting back safe. And depending on how this night ends, I might lose someone dear to me."

Ryan hadn't thought of this. But Travers was right. "Don't you want to stop her?"

"Apart from the fact that I doubt anyone can stop her, why would I? It's not like I hadn't known before it's a dangerous job she has." Travers shrugged.

"True, yeah…" Ryan sighed. "But don't worry. At least we know she won't just go and smash everything. There's a SWAT team around her."

"Good to know. I'll go home now. You take care, too."

"Will do."

* * *

Ryan got out of the locker room early enough to see Calleigh and Delko saying goodbye to each other. Heartily. "You'd almost think they'll never see each other again…" he murmured.

"Yeah, but lemme tell you, they do that every morning…" a voice next to him said.

Ryan turned around, "Do you have to sneak up on me like that? Seriously, is there anything you don't hear or see?"

Nicole laughed, "I'm sorry, but Calleigh lives just around the corner. I even leave house 5 minutes later than I used to just to avoid the sight of them snogging, but you just cannot run away all the time."

"Come on, don't you like this public display of affection? It shows real love, and passion, and stuff…" Ryan grinned. "You have a heart of stone if you don't like this."

"Be it as it may, I don't want to see PDA from my workmates." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm feeling a bit nervous."

"Yeah, me too. I was just talking to Travers and thinking one of us might not get back really…."

"Who's talking about not coming back? I have to stay outside. Do you know how small chances are that I can kick the ass of the guy who beat Travers?"

Ryan frowned, "That's your only problem?"

"Of course."

"And the fact that somebody might die in a cross fire? Somebody of the team?"

Nicole looked at him, "Why do you think like that?"

"It's possible."

"Sure, it is. The Weasley's didn't make it either, at least not all of them. But then again, if you think like this, we can only fail."

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts." She sighed, "I know it's dangerous. And I know that maybe we will mourn somebody tomorrow, and I also know it can be me. But thinking like this will only stop you from taking the actions that need to be taken." She gave him a smile. "Come on, Mr Wolfe, I don't know you like that."

Ryan had to smile too, "I guess it's just… I was thinking that, maybe, one of our guys will fall into their hands. Alive. I guess I'm just a bit nervous it could be me. Again."

"Don't worry. Statistically, every man becomes victim of a crime only once in his life."

"I got a nail in my eye and was kidnapped and tortured by a Russian mobster. Think that proves your statistics wrong." Ryan sighed. "Well, let's just say I had a weak moment. Once I'm there, I'm going to be alright."

"Sure, you will. And if you happen to meet my friend first, make sure it hurts."

"I will." Ryan started walking towards the car where Tripp was waiting. "So, did you say good bye to Travers?"

"No, I didn't. I told him I'll see him later." She turned to face Ryan. "So, Ryan…."

He smiled, "See you tomorrow at the latest."

She smiled back, "See you tomorrow."

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**Likey? Review if you feel like it. Every single review is deeply appreciated.**


	15. Only thing that's on my mind is

Okay, boys and girls, we're getting closer to the end. Three more chapters to go. I wanna thank again my amazing Beta reader for her support. You're an inspiration.

**Disclaimer: I don't own CSI Miami, its characters, Run this town or G4L. **

Enjoy!

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**15. Only thing that's on my mind****, is….**

Half an hour later, they had arrived at the place Nicole's informant had given them. Frank, who was driving, murmured, "I don't like the fact that the place is so close to the city centre. If anything goes wrong…."

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, I see what you mean." Although the warehouse was not located exactly in Little Havana, it was close enough to Calle Ocho for the _invincibles_ to go and wreck havoc on the city, if they noticed the SWAT teams too early. He sort of wished the FBI were here. Or the national guard. Anybody. But then again, he didn't like either one of them, so it was probably better this way. "But if the _invincibles_ don't have a snitch somewhere… It's not the first time we've done this."

"True, yeah. And Horatio has it all planned out. He and Calleigh will enter by the front door with the first team. Delko and Natalia with the second team through the back door. Us and Nicole will wait outside to catch any of them leaving. Plus, there are roadblocks almost everywhere as soon as we give the patrols signal that the _invincibles_ have arrived…"

"Sounds like a good plan." Ryan said. "I wonder why _the habaneros_ agreed on this. I mean, chances are that some of their own will die, too."

"Well, they won't be there just waiting. I guess they are better armed than us."

"So are the invincibles… Why don't we just let them shoot each other, and by the end of the night, every gang in Miami will be gone?"

"Exactly what I was thinking." Frank grumbled. "But apparently, some of the guys up there think that it's better to have the _habaneros_ in Little Havana than some other gang they cannot control. I mean, there are a lot of gangs worse than the _habaneros._"

"You know, a week ago I'd have said you're right. But after what Graciano has done to Marty Baker, I have to disagree."

"Yeah, that's something that bothers me too. I've known Graciano for a long time, and normally he's not a violent person. But Nicole told me he not only admitted to killing Baker but also threatened that the city is going down…"

Ryan nodded, "Yeah. It doesn't sound like the _habaneros_ at all. But Valera confirmed that he and Badillo are _habaneros_…"

Frank frowned, "How much time do we have?"

"Before the show? How should I know?"

"Call Valera. Tell her to run the DNA sample from Graciano against Matthieu."

"What? Why?"

"Have you seen the guy? Graciano, I mean? Does he look Latino to you?"

Ryan thought back, "Well, he had black hair, brown eyes… but he wasn't tanned or anything."

"Tell Valera to run the sample. I have a hunch."

Ryan shrugged, "As you wish." He dialled, "Valera? Are you still at HQ? Listen, can you run the sample we took from Graciano against Christophe Matthieu? Yeah, I think that it is a waste of time as well, but Frank thinks…. You're gonna do it? Great. Yeah, I'll wait." He looked at Frank, "As soon as I mentioned your name, I heard her typing on her keyboard. How do you do that?"

Frank grinned, "Must be my irresistible charms."

"Yeah right… Yes, Valera, I'm still here. Really? You gotta be kidding me, how is that possible? I see. Thanks. Yeah, I'm gonna take care of her. You'll get her back tonight." He hung up. "Graciano and Matthieu are half brothers. Same mother, different fathers. Valera matched the DNA."

"Thought so. So my guess is that Graciano is a snitch for the _invincibles_. Which makes them…"

"The ones that ordered the hit on Marty Baker. The _habaneros_ are innocent." Ryan scratched his head. "And Badillo?"

"Childhood friend with Graciano. I think they are in this together. It's easy enough. Both are listed as _habaneros_, both have the trust of their boss. No one would ever suspect anything."

Ryan sighed, "If we only had known this earlier…"

"Would have saved us a lot of trouble." Frank stopped the car. "We're there."

Ryan looked around; everything was still silent, but Ryan's eye for detail caught sight of some of the SWAT members hiding in the area. "You think we can do this?"

"Of course. After all, we're Miami's finest." Frank joked.

"I know, I know. Still, this has been easy. I mean, you know, it could have gone wrong already at the exchange earlier. And now, we're heading for a meeting that is going to be crashed."

"Yeah, I know. But the odds are better. They don't have one of our guys in their hands, so there's no need to be gentle."

"And they are probably thinking the same." Ryan thought. "Did you ever think that we could fall in their hands, alive?" He didn't know why he asked that question, or why he asked Frank.

But Frank seemed to know what he meant, "Of course. We all think like that. And, let me tell you something else; there is a reason why Horatio wants us, or you, to lay back and wait until they come out."

"Yeah?"

"Indeed. He thinks that you've been through enough as it is, and if the going gets tough, he wants you out of their reach." Frank sighed, "We don't know how much the Frenchies know about the team. If anyone knows what happened between you and the Russians, they might wanna come back to that and use the bad memories you have for their advantage."

"So, is he worried about me, or just afraid I might be an easy victim that could damage it all?" Ryan asked gloomily.

"I doubt he thinks that. After all, he probably knows more than any of us about what has happened. I think he planned like this just to keep you safe."

Ryan didn't answer. Part of him felt good that his boss actually seemed to care; at least somebody did. But the other part was wondering about whether or not Horatio thought he wasn't fit for this. And some other small part in him didn't like the fact that Tripp knew something had happened to him. He had thought that Horatio and Nicole were the only ones who knew about the kidnapping and the torture. And now Tripp, of all people. The manliest man ever to pound Miami's streets. Ryan sighed. Well, at least Frank didn't seem to judge him. Or worse, pity him. He looked around, "Can you see any of the others? I mean, our guys?"

"No." Frank grabbed the walkie talkie. "Let's check on it." He pushed a button, "This is Car 0014. 007, are you there?"

"Car 007. Ferguson. Nicole Ferguson. I'm here, and so is my back up team. I have seen some SWAT guys, but no trace of our people."

"Okay. Do you know where Natalia is?"

"Did you listen, I said I don't know! They're probably hiding somewhere we can't see them. I can't see you either. You know, that's the whole trick, my love."

Frank frowned, "You know this is Tripp speaking. Why do you call me 'my love'?"

"Of course I know it's you. The accent gives you away."

"So does yours."

"Yeah, but I can at least try to sound American, ya know?" Ryan was sure she was smiling. "Anyways, I'll try to contact Natalia, you try Horatio. 007. Ferguson. Nicole Ferguson. Over and out."

Frank gave the walkie talkie a look, "She's completely nuts."

"But you gotta admit, she can sound pretty American." Ryan chuckled.

"Yeah, right." He tried to contact Horatio, "This is car 0014 for car 0017. Horatio, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clearly, Frank, we're on our way. Is there any movement?"

"Not yet. I can see candles burning in the building, though. The _habaneros_ are there."

"But no sign of the _invincibles_?"

"Nothing. Maybe Eric and Natalia have something. Nicole is trying to reach them."

"Let me know. Over and out."

Frank hadn't even properly said good bye to Horatio when the radio cracked, "Frank, it's Nic. I have reached Nat and Delko, they are there already. And I can see a black SUV approaching the building. From North."

Frank wanted to answer but Ryan nudged him, "There's a Lambo coming from West. No, two, actually."

"Crrrccrrrr… Frank, this is Delko, we have a car from East. And they're fast."

"Frank, it's Calleigh, we have an SUV from South, heading for the building."

Ryan looked around. Four cars, among them an SUV. Who knew how many guys were there? "Frank, what do we do?"

"Horatio, what do we do? Do we get them here, outside? We can end this before it starts."

Horatio didn't answer. Ryan didn't know why. It would have been the easiest way. Shoot them before they even reached the building. But then, Horatio said, "It's too risky. We don't know how many they are, we don't know how they're armed."

"We have a SWAT team." Ryan muttered. "What can possibly happen to us?"

"I know, Mr Wolfe, I'm not happy about this either…. Okay, how many people do you guess there are?"

Ryan checked, "I can see two people in each Lambo."

The next one was Eric, "I have about four to five. I cannot see it properly."

Then Ryan heard Nicole, "The SUV is packed with guys. I'd love to have that one in a traffic control. I'd say they're about eight."

Horatio said, "We have an SUV too, about the same amount of people in it." He paused. "I fear this might be a trap."

Ryan rolled his eyes, "If we let them get inside and follow them there, and it is in fact a trap, we're as good as dead, H."

"I agree." Nicole said, "It wouldn't be the first ambush they've done. Plus, we can get to them before they even have a chance to kill a _habanero_. I think we should strike, right now. _I lick the gun when I'm done 'cause I know that revenge is sweet, so sweet…_" (1)

Horatio waited a second, "Okay. Are they close enough for you to get a good shot?"

"Yes." Delko.

"Yes." Nicole.

"Yes." Frank.

"Okay. Then fire away."

"Alright. Over and out." Frank got out the car, Ryan did the same. But before they even had a chance to tell the swat team, the guys who were with Nicole had already fired their first shots. Frank looked at Ryan, "If I didn't know, I'd say she had the SWAT team preparing before she even got the go-ahead from Horatio."

"I'd bet on it." Ryan said.

"Yeah, to be honest, me too." He motioned to the SWAT team to prepare. It took them only a few seconds, and they started firing too. From the massive noise in the air, Ryan judged that Horatio's and Delko's teams had started too.

In a matter of seconds, it was over. The floor was littered with dead bodies, all bad guys. Ryan reached for the phone again, "This is Ryan. We're done."

Delko's voice came from the microphone, "So are we. We only lost one, he's running towards the city. I told patrol, they are ready to get him. Everything alright with you over there?"

"Everything's good. Thanks, Delko." His next call was Calleigh. "Calleigh? Everything good?"

"Everything's fine. All of them, none of us."

"Same here. See you later." He took a breath and then asked, "Nicole? Did you get them?"

"Of course. Did you see my friend?"

Ryan walked over to the car, and indeed, he found what he was looking for. Between a handful of dead _invincibles_ was the man Nicole had been looking for. "Yeah, I have him here. Bullet straight to the head."

"Oh dammit! I knew I should have gone with you!" He could literally hear Nicole stamping. "So, any of you found Matthieu?"

Ryan grew silent. Now he noticed Matthieu was not with the guys in their cars. "Nope, not here. Not with you either?"

"Would I be asking where he was if he was lying in front of me?" She sounded annoyed. "Natalia hasn't got him either."

"Calleigh didn't say anything, so I guess they don't have, either." He scratched his head. "But do you seriously think he'd come here? Put himself in danger?"

"He was at the exchange. I bet you he'd come here, too."

"Then where is he?"

"How would I know?" Nicole paused, "What if it were indeed a trap?"

Ryan looked around; there was nothing unusual. "I don't think so."

"And what do you feel?"

"What?"

"Apart from rational scientific thinking. What do you feel?"

Ryan closed his eyes for a few seconds. And there it was. An uneasy feeling that made his guts churn. "I think it was a trap. But would he sacrifice so many people for it?"

"Of course. You know how loyal those guys are to there respective leader…"

Ryan turned to face the building. "Do you think the _habaneros_ are in on it? That all from the beginning on has been a trap?"

"From where on?"

He walked back to his Hummer. "From the beginning on…" Nicole said nothing. "I mean, you know how often we've been saying that it has all been too easy? It has. Nicole, we're standing in the middle of a trap."

"But the guy I talked to from the _habaneros_ wouldn't lie."

"What if he didn't know?"

She paused, "Yeah. What if?"

"It means we have a problem…" Ryan bit his lip. "Let's leave. Right now."

"Wait a second, there's somebody calling." Ryan could hear her talking on her cell phone. Judging from the suddenly loud sound of her voice, he guessed the news she got wasn't good. She was back a second later, "Somebody in a white van has just broken through the road barrier at the end of Calle Ocho. They are on their way to the city."

"So it was a trap!" Ryan ran his fingers through his hair and turned back to the house. "So, either the _habaneros_ are in there and don't know anything about it, or they are on it and we have been looking at an empty house with almost every SWAT member in the city while they are planning to take over the city."

"We need to get back to the city."

BOOM!

And all went black…

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(1) Rihanna – G4L

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**Ohoh, it went BOOM! I can't wait to read on. :o)**


	16. who's gonna run this town tonight

I'm not even gonna bother with an AN since I'm sure you want to know what happened :o)

**Disclaimer: Don't own CSI Miami, Run this town or I like. **

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**16. ****…who's gonna run this town tonight?**

_Black. Black. Black. He was flying… Flying high. For what seemed the first time in his life, he was free of everything. No Russian mobster. No father that beat him up and belittled him. No team that treated him__ as a replacement even after five years. No one who hated him, no one who didn't trust him. Just he and the air that made him fly…_Ryan! _It was so nice and easy. Nothing bothered him anymore. Not even his back. Oh, what about it? All the scars were gone; he could feel it. Once again, for the first time since he was 10, his back was flawless like some uncut ice. _Ryan, wake up!_ He would never have to be ashamed again. No one would ever look at him again, wondering what had happened to his back. No one would ever again turn away in disgust at the scars that had accompanied him most of his adult life. He only had to close his eyes now and let it happen. He could see the light already. Just let go, Ryan. Let go of all this trouble. You will never be the scapegoat again…_

"Ryan! Wake up, please!" The voice sounded as if it's owner was on the verge of tears. He couldn't let that happen. Not with the voice who had so often during the past months soothed him. He opened his eyes. "Ryan! Oh, thank God, you're alive!" He could feel somebody holding him, caressing his face, but he could also smell blood, that coppery smell which he hated more than anything else. "I thought you were gone…"

It took Ryan a while to focus, "Nicole… what happened?" He could see her face. It was black from… ashes? "You're dirty."

She looked at him for a second, but then smiled a bit, "The house went BOOM! We all went down. Ambulances are on their way, I called them."

Ryan could hear somebody screaming, "What's that?"

"It's Eric. I guess Calleigh is injured. And judging by the way he's screaming, she might even have broken a fingernail." Her hand was still caressing his face, "But I guess I'm not that much better…."

"It's okay. You woke me up… Is it me bleeding?"

She shook her head, "No, don't worry. You were just out, but you have no external damage to your pretty face. You're not even dirty."

He moaned a bit, "But I can smell blood… and it feels wet down my arm…" It did, indeed. He turned his head to see what was the matter with his arm. Then he noticed it. It was not his arm, it was Nicole's. The sleeve of her blouse was soaked with blood. "Nicole, you're injured."

"I know. A shrapnel hit me when I was covering my face."

Ryan tried to get into a sitting position. "Are the others alright?"

"Somehow. Natalia has a ringing in her ear; Delko has got some serious scratches. Calleigh is out, but apparently only unconscious. Horatio and Frank are alright; Frank has already driven back to the city. How about you? Are you sure you don't have a concussion?"

"It doesn't feel like it. Show me your arm." He took a closer look at it. Although the wound had been bleeding a lot, it wasn't anything fatal. "Can you move it?" As she nodded, he said, "I think it's alright. Are you sure you got all of the shrapnel out?"

"Yeah. Everything's alright, it's just bleeding like hell."

Ryan got up, his legs still trembling, "I have a First Aid Kit in my Hummer. I'll look after it and patch you up." He swayed a bit, getting a worried look from Nicole's as a consequence. "Don't worry. I'm a bit dizzy, but it's not a concussion."

"If you say so…" She followed him to the Hummer and then watched him as he looked after her arm. "Hell, it could have been my face."

"Don't think like that." Ryan murmured as he cut the sleeve open and wiped the blood away. "It will probably need stitches, though." He looked around as he was reaching for a burn spray. "Where are the SWAT teams?"

"I saw them leaving. Apparently they got the same call as I did. I hope they reach the city in time for the big show…" She hissed, "Ouch, that hurts."

"You should be happy that I carry this stuff around. I had to disinfect my wounds with salt water."

"It hurts nevertheless!" She whined.

"Be a man." He looked up at her and grinned.

"I can knock you out again, you know…"

"Yeah, I know." He started wrapping a bandage around her arm. "This must be the nearest I've ever been to you…"

"Yeah, and you never touched my body as much as today. Which I like, by the way. _You've got me down right electrified… I like, I like…_"(1) She grinned and watched him as he finished off. "Thank you, Dr Wolfe. Will I be able to bowl again?"

"It can't hurt that much if you make funny jokes…" He breathed out and then looked at her, "Thank you. I know it sounds tacky, but it was the sound of your voice which stopped me from going into the light."

"Yeah, that sounds tacky." She smiled at him. "But still, it's nice to hear it." A siren was heard. "The ambulances. Hey, how about we share one?"

"I don't need an ambulance. I'd rather leave my space to somebody who needs medical attention more than I do."

"Well, that's nice, because apparently they've only sent one ambulance." She frowned, "I was sure I told them we need like five."

Ryan sighed, "Let's hope this doesn't mean the rest of them are needed in the city. Shall I accompany you to the ambulance?"

She shook her head, "I'd rather have Nat, Delko and Cal go. You can drive me to a doctor. Or I can drive you…" She gave him a worried look when he started swaying again. "Hey, are you sure you're okay?" She got up and managed to steady him with her bad arm. "Hey, Ryan, listen to my voice. My lovely and soothing voice. Don't go down on me. I mean… Don't faint."

Ryan had to steady himself hard on her, "Holy crap. I think I might have a concussion."

"Come on, we'll get you to the ambulance… which has just driven away. Just great!"

"Don't worry. You know they rarely notice when something's wrong with me. I cannot expect them to worry about me after a simple explosion when they won't even worry about me after I was missing in action and tortured by a Russian." He joked weakly.

"Yeah, I know. One hell of a good team. Come on, we'll go to the car and I'll drive you to the ER."

"Zat won't be necessary." A voice behind them said.

Ryan and Nicole both turned around. In front of them stood Matthieu, gun in his hand. Ryan felt his head spinning, but he managed to say, "We've been looking for you."

"I know, I know. Monsieur Wolfe, you are looking quite bad. Did my petite explosion make your 'ead 'urt?"

Ryan had difficulty focussing, but Nicole didn't, "What's this crap all about?"

"Mademoiselle, je vous en prie…"

"Stop right there. We're not talking French. If you haven't noticed, I lost about half of my blood and I'm carrying my partner, so please…"

"Okay, as you wish. Alors, Mademoiselle, I'm gonna explain. You were from ze beginning on thinking zat zis was a gang war. Let me tell you, it is not. We just wanted it to look like it."

"Who is 'we'?"

"The _habaneros_ and us. We asked _la famiglia_, too, but zey declined. Zey had to die, of course."

"And why all this show?"

"What do you zink?"

Ryan murmured, almost blind from the dizziness, still steadying himself heavy on Nicole, "You wanted us."

"Exactly, Monsieur Wolfe. We wanted you. All off you. Ze wonderful Horatio Caine and his team, who made drug selling much more difficile zan it used to be. You had to go. I 'ave to admit, I was a bit late. We wanted to get rid of ze SWAT teams. Zat's why the explosion, and ze car in ze city. Zen I wanted to kill you 'ere, one by one. But I was late. It doesn't matter, though. They are being killed on ze road by my snipers as we speak. Tonight, we will run zis town." He then smiled, "But I have ze special plaisir of killing you two. Ze two who killed one of my best men. And I will enjoy it…" He pointed his gun at them. "So, Monsieur Wolfe, shall we go 'ladies first'?"

"Let her go…" Ryan's voice was not louder than a whisper. "You can have me, but not her. She didn't shoot your man."

"Very gentleman of you, Monsieur Wolfe. I'm very touched. But I am afraid zis is not possible."

Ryan wanted to answer with something, but he was distracted by Nicole's hand suddenly moving along his lower back. It took him only a few seconds to realize what she wanted. Her slow, almost teasing movements along his back over to his waist could only mean one thing: she wanted a grip on his gun. Ryan had to admire her coolness. While her own gun was much easier to get to, she would have to use her bad arm not only to get it out of the holster, but also to aim and shoot. And apparently, she didn't trust her arm for now, and opted instead to use her good arm, even if it meant she'd have to use Ryan's gun for it. He shifted his weight a bit, so that the jacket he was wearing covered his gun, and hoped that Matthieu wouldn't see it.

But Matthieu wasn't easy to fool. He pointed his gun at Ryan's head. "If you don't stop, Mademoiselle, I'm goiiing to blow Monsieur Wolfe's brains out. If you stop, I'll hit something which allows his family to at least have an open coffin to grieve over."

Nicole gave Mathieu a nasty look, but brought her hand back to its original position. "Okay, then why don't you kill me already and get over with it?"

Matthieu chuckled, "I'm enjoyiiing ze moment. You are of no danger to me. I could watch you bleeding to death. But zat will take too long, and time is money. So, I will give you a minute to say a few last words."

It was at exactly that moment when Ryan's vision partially cleared again. His mind raced. They would die. Matthieu would kill them. But Ryan wouldn't go down without fighting. He knew he had only a few seconds before his vision would blurry again, but he was determined he'd make the best out of them. He moaned and steadied himself so hard on Nicole that she couldn't support his weight anymore and went down on her knees. Ryan knew the next two to three seconds counted. He grabbed Nicole's gun, un-holstered it quickly, shoved her down to earth and pointed his gun at Matthieu, "Drop your gun!"

Matthieu laughed, "Ah, Monsieur Wolfe, you amuse me. With zat concussion, you probably cannot even see me properly, let alone shoot me." He aimed at Ryan, "Brule en enfer, salaud!"

But before he could pull the trigger, something hit him square in the face. Nicole had thrown sand at him. He screamed and waved his gun around. And Ryan shot. His bullet hit Matthieu right in his heart; he was dead before he hit the ground. Ryan let out a deep breath and turned to Nicole, "That was close. Sorry for bringing you down and shoving you. Are you okay?"

Nicole was already on the phone, but she motioned a 'yes', although he could see from her face that she was hurt; her arm has started bleeding again, the bandage was already red with blood. It probably had happened the moment she had hit the ground. But she didn't seem to care. "Natalia? It's Nic. Are you okay? Yes? Because Matthieu said he had snipers along the way… He was here, yes. Dead. Ryan. We're okay, are you? In hospital? No one shot at you? Okay, yeah. Thank you." She hung up and redialled, "Frank? Did you see some snipers? You did? Are they dead? Great. Yeah, we're alright. We'll come. Bye." She let out a deep breath. "Frank and the SWAT team saw they snipers when they left earlier. They were hidden along the road, but Frank spotted one, and then our guys approached from the back and shot them to pieces." She smiled at Ryan, "It's over."

Ryan nodded, "Yeah… it… over…"

"Ryan? Ryan!" Nicole managed to catch him just before he hit the ground.

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(1) Keri Hilson – I like

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**I really hope you liked this. There's still the epilogue to go, so sit tight :D**


	17. We are, yeah I said it, we are

Okay guys, this is the final chapter to Run this town. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: I don't own CSI Miami, Run this town or anything else you recognize.**

Enjoy. **  
**

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**Chapter 17: We are, yeah I said it, we are**

The next time Ryan woke up, it was to a finger, a dark skinned finger, and a warm voice which asked, "How many fingers?"

"Alexx…"

"How many, Ryan?"

"Five…" He propped himself into a sitting position. "What happened?"

Alexx gave him a look, "You ask ME what happened? I get an ambulance with a bunch of injured CSIs and you ask ME what happened?"

"How are they?"

Alexx's stern look turned into a warm smile, "All patched up and ready to go. I'll keep you and Calleigh here overnight, but the others are already back home."

"And Nicole?"

"She's outside, almost asleep, but she wouldn't leave until she knew you were awake."

"What about her arm?"

"I had to x-ray it, and get a few tiny shrapnel out, then stitch it and bandage it, but there's no damage to bone, muscle or anything else. Before long, she'll be able to slap people again."

"Good…" Ryan closed his eyes again. He drifted off to sleep before Alexx had left the room.

**

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**

The next time he woke up, it was early morning. He turned his head towards the window and was greeted with a blue sky and the sun shining brightly. "And I thought I'd never see you again…" Then he noticed something heavy on his leg. When he turned to check it out, he had to grin; he saw a bunch of curly red hair, covering a sleepy face of which the owner was hugging his legs. He watched her a bit, but then softly nudged her, "Hey, Nicole. Wake up. You gotta wake up. If you sleep like this, your body is gonna ache for days, you will be in a very bad mood and I'll be at the business end of it, I guess." He sat up and softly caressed her hair, "Come on, sleeping beauty, wake up."

She moaned, "Nah, Don't wanna."

"You're worse than Uncle Ron. Get up."

"Nahah! Leave me alone!"

"Nicole, come on."

Finally, she opened her eyes. She looked at him for a second, but then she nodded, "Oh, yes. I'm in a hospital. And for a second I was afraid I might have done something naughty last night." She yawned and sat upright. "Morning, Ryan. How are you?"

"Fine, thanks. You?"

"Alexx cut me open. She promised I'll have a nice scar, though."

"Why would you want a scar?"

"Scars are like tattoos, but with better stories, and sexy as hell."

"Sexy? Nice joke." He thought of his own scars and found them far from sexy.

"They are! They show street credibility and have a touch of bad boy to them. Yours is nice, too."

"Mine?" He froze; had she seen his back while he had been asleep?

But she pointed at her eye, "From the nail." Then she grinned, "Or do you have others you want to show me?"

"Not really." He sat back and leaned against his pillows. "So, we're done? With this gang crap?"

"Yap. Everybody involved was arrested or killed in the process. No _habaneros_, no _invincibles_, no _la famiglia._"

Ryan breathed out, "So, we run this town tonight?"

"_We are, yeah, I said it, we are_." (1)

He smiled, "Good. And for once, I didn't end up a victim."

"Seems we both got lucky tonight."

"What, you met Travers already?"

"No, but I woke up next to a hot shot nevertheless." She got up. "I'll go get us some coffee. Sit tight."

"Will do." He watched her leaving the room. Then he closed his eyes again and enjoyed the feeling of a weight being lifted off his heart. It was over. The city of Miami was out of danger, and it was once again thanks to the CSIs that nothing serious had happened. And, God! It felt good.

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(1) Jay-Z featuring Rihanna and Kanye West – Run this town

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**Okay, this is it. I wanna say thank you to many people. First and foremost, the amazing Dragonfriend95, my beta. It has been a pleasure working with you, and I'm sure there's a lot more to come. Thank you *bow*. Then I want to thank Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West for this amazing song which has inspired me since I've heard it the first time in countless ways. Jay, you're the king! Then of course I wanna thank all the people who have reviewed on this story, all my silent readers who never reviewed but read on and on (you CAN of course review now on the last chapter^^), all the people who have added me and my story to their various lists. It keeps me going.**

**As for future projects, I have plans for like three more fics. I'm also thinking of rewriting "He still stands inspite of what his scars say", which as of now is gonna be the next story up. So, those of you who love my writing, you can look forward to much more. **

**Fergie, over and out :o)  
**


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